I am currently doing a fitness challenge called 75Hard. The program requires you to do a series of things every day for 75 days. There are 5 rules:
- Follow a healthy diet of your choosing… strictly. No slip-ups or alcohol allowed.
- Work out twice a day, every day, for at least 45 minutes each workout. One of the workouts must take place outdoors.
- Drink 1 gallon of water per day.
- Take progress pictures every single day.
- Read 10 pages of a self-help book each day.
If you miss one of the items, you are out. You must start over. By the time you read this, I will be in day 16. Strangely, the struggle I had in the first few days was drinking a gallon of water. I am not a big water drinker, so I often forgot to drink when I was in the office, or worse, I would remember to drink but forget to add the water to the phone app I am tracking it in. I even strained my brain one night trying to figure out how much water was in my glass at a restaurant, accounting for the melting ice cubes, when I should have been enjoying my dinner. I was overthinking the whole thing. So much so, I would often find myself downing a bunch of water at the end of the day to finish off that day’s requirement. You can guess what drinking a half-gallon of water does to you just before bedtime. Ugh!
I mentioned to one of my coaching clients that if I failed this challenge, it would be the gallon of water that brings me down. She excitedly said, “I know just what you need!” and screen shared a picture of a water bottle. The HidrateSpark PRO is a smart water bottle that keeps track of your water consumption. It will even glow to notify you when you need to drink to stay on track. My first thought was, “Who needs a $70 water bottle?” As I started to look at the videos on the website, I decided that I was going to order one. On day 5 of the challenge, the water bottle arrived, and I started using it. I went from struggling to get to my water goal met every day to breezing through my gallon of water. I set my water consumption goal of 1 gallon and the hours in which to accomplish it.
The reason it works is that it makes drinking water easy and convenient. The water bottle keeps track for me, so I don’t have to perform a series of mental math gymnastics trying to figure out how many milliliters are in a gallon or how much water is in a drinking glass.
Water consumption went from painful to simple. In the last 10 days, I have averaged 120% of my water goal and significantly cut down my late-night washroom visits.
Now let’s take this example and apply it to your business. You need to make your prospecting activity go from painful to simple.
- The night before, prepare a list of 5 prospects you are going to call the next day.
- Close your email program every night.
- Block out the first 30 minutes of your day for prospecting.
- Have your script/call objectives open on your computer.
- Have a pad of paper and pen ready to take notes.
- Check your Customer Relationship Management software to see if any prospects came in overnight that you need to follow up with.
- Make your five calls with no breaks in between. Work with urgency.
- Once complete, add your notes into your Customer Relationship Management software.
Making your list of the next day’s prospects is a critical planning component. Do any necessary pre-call research (maximum 5 minutes/prospect) before you close up for the day, then clear your desk, shut down your email, and open your call scripts/call objectives on your computer. Your workspace will be simple, clean, and it will be easy for you to start the day on the right track.
