Accountability for action is the best way to accomplish results.
This is true whether you are trying to lose weight or succeed in business. You need to be able to track your actions, because results take care of themselves if the actions are taken consistently enough. So whatever you are doing, create a tracking measure so that you can make it like a game.
We all like games. In games we play, there is always a clear association between what we do and the impact on the score. What comes first? What we do. If we do nothing, the score doesn’t change on our side. Since we are competing, this drives us to do something, because the score is usually going up on the other side and this is clear to us!
We need to do this for ourselves in our pursuits. We need to compete with ourselves. If you are trying to lose weight, just stepping on the scale once a month is not a good way to measure. It’s not enough information about our actions. However, if we track our food intake daily, and our exercise daily, we are competing with whatever level of these two things we set that are needed to accomplish our goal. Then we can step on the scale at the end of the month. Although it would be better to step on the scale a little more frequently…maybe once a week….so we can see if the actions are working. More frequent feedback is better than less frequent.
Let’s put this into a business frame. If your goal is to grow your business, sales volume and cash flow are key measures. You have to decide how frequently to measure these based on your business model. In a referral marketing business you can measure your sales volume on a daily basis. This is a way you can keep score for yourself.
An even greater thing to measure is the action that create sales volume. Contacts and presentations are the actions that create sales volume. In general, a certain number of contacts and presentations yield sales volume. If you know the approximate ratio, you can create a tracking process that you know will yield a level of volume result based on the actions. The most successful people know that if they measure and track contacts and presentations, and are accountable for the level needed for the desired results, they will hit their sales volume targets.
How often should you measure contacts? Whenever you are playing the game! Remember, you are competing with yourself and your goals. If you are running your business part time, you should be having at least 10 contacting conversations per day, between new contacts, follow-ups, and customer service. You should also be designating a certain number for new contacts because you want to always be opening new doors for future business.
Create your numbers, then hit this goal every day. At the end of the month you will see the impact in your results…aka sales volume. If you are new, you will also have some level of pipeline effect. This means that sometimes your sales results will not meet the approximate ratios. This is because you are still filling your pipeline with people who are learning about what you have to offer. This effect is off set in the following months when you will have a higher ratio of sales volume results per new contacts because of all the people you are following up with and because of referrals from your customer base.
Everything in your life that matters to you is worth measuring. Be accountable to yourself and watch your results soar.
