the metric system
depending on where you are, it's important to make sure you're measuring the right things
The proof is in the pudding.
The right is in the results.
Numbers never lie.
If any of the above are correct, I’m losing right now. I’m just over 6 weeks in, and I haven’t secured any new business yet. Looking at end results is not helpful in this position. To break this spell, I’m going to need to focus on something I can achieve every day.
The ‘COLD MARKET’ is real. No one is perpetually IN THE MARKET for anything forever. They’re impervious to marketing when they have no needs for your product. BUT, when something bad happens, they enter the market, and it’s my job to be there when they’re ready.
I’ve done what I set out to do. I’ve done the work. I’ve reached out in a measurably significant way. I’ve made the rounds to gather recon. I’ve adjusted my rhetorical pitch. I’ve studied and practiced my storytelling. But still, I’m at Square One.
According to my plan, I’m not supposed to show any end results yet. But I still wonder if I’m doing it right. That doubt is insidious, and it affects everything I do at this point. I’m going to have to trust the process from here.
Am I spending enough time engaging in selling activity? Am I paying enough attention to industry news? Am I REALLY SOLD on the product line I’m selling?Am I missing something?
Let’s see.
The strategy was at first to identify the best targets and to approach from as many perspectives as possible, in order to tease out needs.
I’ve identified the ‘constellation’ of possible/suitable customers in this geography. It’s limited, and it gets smaller every year. Like every company, I need a very particular type of customer. Not too big, and not too small. Big enough to justify the logistics, and not so large that they’d dominate production. I need Goldilocks customers, and that’s a challenge. That means every interaction I initiate must make a dent.
Water dripping on a stone eventually leaves a mark.
The thing is, I haven’t been doing this long enough to leave a mark. Eventually hasn’t arrived yet. Even when it does, it’s just a mark. It’s not necessarily a decision. It may be something as trivial as a reply to an email or a thumbs-up to a LinkedIn post. All I’m trying to do is put a crack in the defensive wall, so that additional suggestions might find their way in, and I can probe further for additional needs.
Put a tab there. I’ve really just begun.
Creating a sales funnel for a B2B brand with zero current distribution in the territory requires a strategic approach I haven’t worked with in the past. I’ve always been able to use a milk-run approach to building business. Hit the current customers on a very regular basis, and use that run as the basis for outreach to new potential customers. Without the scaffolding of existing customers to build upon, it’s difficult to create a sustainable path to get face time.
There are expenses that get hard to reconcile. There is unpaid time that adds-up every day. Then there is this uncertainty.
I’m at the uncertainty right now.
Looking at the next few months, I expect to go quite some time before earning a commission check. That’s a wake-up call.
So, what can I focus on TODAY to make sure that I move the needle?
Count the daily outreaches. Text, Email, Phone call. Make them count. Set a daily goal. Make it happen. I’ve insisted on this with my teams in the past. I’m going to have to insist on this from myself.
Engage in social media in a meaningful way with daily posts and responses to each reply. Again, I’ve made this a point in previous worlds. It’s time I submit to the discipline.
Stay up to date on the competition and the industry by reading industry publications and research daily— minimum 1-2 hours.
Invest in myself mentally with varied readings and podcasts that enrich and expand my world.
Begin a fitness regimen that I can and will submit to daily. I’ll start with daily walks for at least 30 minutes.
Here’s where you’ll find me. These are the metrics I’ll be counting.
Soon, as the customers open, I’ll adjust. But for now, the goal is clear. Make a mark, so that I can get an opportunity to make a change for the Better.