I sold a job once that happened to be the largest job our company had ever done. In fact, it was easily twice as large as any job we had done before. This wasn’t really an issue for us, but the customer wanted to know how we would handle such a large job. My response? “Just like eating an elephant – one bite at a time!” Must of worked because we got the joba dn it turned out great!

Most any job, or task, can be broken into smaller chunks. I know I’m not telling you something you don’t already know, so don’t worry; it isn’t another one of “those” articles. Rather than break down how to tackle large jobs into small, manageable tasks, I want to take a look at why we should do it.

Most people may be familiar with the Law of Diminishing Returns that states, “The tendency for a continuing application of effort or skill toward a particular project or goal to decline in effectiveness after a certain level of result has been achieved.”

In other words, a project you may be working on will reach a point where the effectiveness of the additional effort you put into completing it will begin to diminish at a given rate. For some, this may be the reason why they have a file full of unfinished projects. The project reaches a certain level of completeness and it may become “complete enough” because the amount of additional effort to fully complete it may be more that they are willing to expend.

In contrast, breaking large jobs into smaller tasks can reduce the Law of Diminishing Intent. This Law states, “The longer you wait to accomplish what you already know you should do, the more likely it is that you will never do it.”

This Law not only applies to tasks or projects that we need to get done, but also to ideas that we would like to pursue. Have you ever woke up in the morning and have an idea while getting ready for work? It’s a great idea and you just can’t wait to get to the office or shop to get started on it.

Then you get to the office and see that you have six voice-mails and a dozen customer e-mails that need to be handled before getting started with your day. You rifle through all of the return calls and reply to the e-mails, all the while thinking about the new idea you want to develop. But during that process, you receive more calls and e-mails and customers start to come in. Before you know it, closing time is near and the day fades away.

On the drive home, the idea re-enters your thoughts and again stirs your emotions. You pull in the drive-way and the chores of your home world come into view, but not until you spend a little time with your spouse and kids. Before you know it, it’s time for bed and the idea gets shelved for tomorrow. And the process repeats.

What was the first mistake that caused the flame of the new idea to fizzle? It was the failure to take the first step which is write it down and immediately break it down into a few small tasks. Doing this gets the ball rolling and creates the momentum and inertia behind the idea that keeps it alive.

Let’s take a look at inertia. The quick definition as it applies to this article is “The tendency for an item in motion to stay in motion.” Consistently accomplishing small steps and completing small tasks that lead closer and closer toward the completion of a project or idea is critical to its successful completion and implementation.

Sorry about the science lessons there, but I thought they’d paint a pretty good picture for not only how, but more importantly WHY it is important to break things down into small, manageable pieces – bite size pieces that will help you eat your elephant!

Now, Go Get ‘Em!

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” – Many People

This famous quote has been attributed to several people from Napoleon Bonaparte and Russian author Ivan Turgenev all the way back to the Godfather of Chinese proverbs, Confucius.

The premise is that a single picture can say as much as a considerable amount of text. (But for those that are long winded, don’t get too excited, it does NOT mean that 1001 words are better than any single picture!)

Here’s my slant on this old adage. An orally painted picture is worth more than any brochure or PowerPoint you could ever present.

“An orally painted picture?” What the heck is that!? It is an emotionally enhance visual that your prospect or customer develops as you descriptively tell them a story about how your product or service will save their world – or at least provide the solution to their dilemma.

Why is this important? Because many people make their purchases either emotionally or on a gut feeling. Also, if the person you are trying to sell needs time to review the information before making a decision, they will remember the emotional visual they had while meeting with you more strongly than the actual information that you shared.

So how do you orally paint a picture? The first three ingredients are passion, passion and passion. If you want to be a top-notch salesperson, unless you can passionately speak about your product or service, you may as well leave a brochure and go home.

Next, you need to lead them, or encourage them to create their visual picture. Something as simple as “How would your day look if…” is a great start to get the visual juices flowing. Once you have them visualizing your story, be sure to use visually descriptive words while telling your story.

When telling your story, and orally painting your picture, also try to use descriptive words that covers multiple senses. Your goal now is to paint a visual picture that also includes sounds, smells, touch/textures and tastes. Now every picture you paint may not include all five senses, but the more you can include, the more memorable it will be and the more emotion they may create.

Let me share with you a personal example of one of my most successful stories I’ve told. It may not be as effective in written form because you can’t see my passion and excitement while telling the story, but I’ll describe the details the best I can. This story wasn’t told to sell a product or service, but it sold me and my abilities to my boss well enough to get a promotion after only one year to a position that typically requires five years of service to attain.

The story is about a foul ball I caught at a Detroit Tigers baseball game. It was a scorching hot Saturday afternoon and three of my friends and I decided to take in a ball game. We got into the stadium and found our seats – facing smack dab right into the early afternoon sun! After a couple innings of sitting in the oven, we looked around to find some empty seats in the shade.

It was a pretty crowded game but we eventually found a few seats in the upper deck about halfway between third base and the outfield wall. In old Tiger Stadium, these seats were perfect as the roof overhang not only shaded us from the sun, but felt noticeably cooler.

On the way to our new seats, we stopped off at a vendor for a snack. My treat was a vanilla sundae with chocolate syrup and crushed nuts served in a miniature Tigers baseball helmet – perfect for cooling off on such a hot day!

Soon after we settled into our new seats and about half way through my tasty treat, with the pop of the bat, Tony Phillips sliced a towering foul ball in our general direction. In what seemed like slow motion, one-by-one, everyone jumped to their feet in anticipation the ball would land in their vicinity. As the ball
started its decent, we rose to our feet as it was coming right at us. As it got right above us everyone began reaching for the heavens for a chance of catching the prize!

So picture this…I’m leaning forward with my thighs pressed tight against the seat in front of me, my right hand is stretched up as high as I can push it and my left hand is deftly cradling my delicious treat up close around my chest. The ball drops and hits the fingertips of first my buddy, then me and the next thing I know, chocolate and ice cream is splattering all over my arm and face! I look down and discover that I “caught” that foul ball in the very helmet that once contained my sundae!

If you couldn’t tell from a couple of the Tiger references (Tony Phillips and Tiger Stadium), this story happened about 15 years ago. Some of the details are a little more fuzzy than they were the Monday after it happened while telling my boss, but five descriptive paragraphs paint a heck of a better picture of what happened than a couple sentences that anyone would forget about a minute after hearing it.

Your challenge now is to look at how you present your product and service and develop a way to present it, or part of it, with an emotion eliciting story that orally paints a picture that will stick with your prospect and compel them to buy from you.

Now Go Get ‘Em!!

Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right!”

If our thoughts mold our attitude, and our attitudes dictate the words we speak, then Mr. Ford could have also said that “Whether you SAY you can or can’t, you’re right!”

But what really comes first – our words or our attitude? If our thoughts mold our attitude, then I’d argue that the words of our inner monologue that we use in our thoughts are the ultimate driving force behind not only our attitude, but our resultant actions. Let’s take a look at several perspectives of how our words drive who we are and how we perform.

How many times have we heard someone say “Be careful what you wish for?” Spiritually, we are taught about “Speaking things into existence.” Both of these examples show undeniable belief that our words have power.

Scientifically, depending on the article or study you read, the average person has anywhere from 12,000-60,000 thoughts per day. And of those thoughts, the studies show that half to two-thirds are negative. Wow!!

Anecdotally, here is a great example that could happen at any business, at any time. I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine, Lisa Lee who, with her husband, David, own Wendel’s Home Furnishings in Mt. Pleasant, MI. They do an exceptional job of fostering a very positive environment and culture within their business and provide superior support and training for their staff. We were talking about leadership, but here is a relevant part of one of her stories.

At the beginning of one day as the sales reps were coming into work, she greeted one asking, “How are you doing today?” The response was, “Fine.” She then asked with a smile, “Just fine?” And again the reply was, “Yep, just fine.” As another one came in, she again asked the same greeting. This time however, the response was “Excellent!”

Long story short, the Fine rep had 10 “ups” or prospects that day and made zero sales. The Excellent rep had 7 ups and helped all but one with making a purchase. We both are convinced that the difference was the mindset each rep had that day with the words they chose to use early on. So even in the very best of environments, the effect of words on performance can be very adverse.

The scary thing is this could easily happen to anyone that may have a day start off on the wrong foot or allows a negative thought creep in and take root. When those negative thoughts take root, they affect the words we use and the demeanor we display throughout the day. If it happens when dealing with customers, it can quickly put the kibosh on any hopes you’d have on making a sale.

So what can we do with these negative thoughts that seem to be stacked against us? The first step is to be cognizant of them and when they pop up, be conscious of the words you choose to counter the thoughts. When consciously using positive words, you can be confident in what you wish for as well as the things you speak into existence.

And always remember the 10/90 rule. Everything in life is only 10% what happens to us (thoughts) and 90% how we react to it (the words we use). When you consider that, the deck doesn’t seem to be stacked so one-sided now does it!?

Now Go Get ‘Em!!