Are you Still Playing Football with Lucy?

In case you have forgotten, Charles Schultz cartooned about Charlie Brown and Lucy playing football. Lucy would hold the football for him to kick but when he approached it, she'd lift it up and Charlie Brown would end up on his back - 42 times this happened starting in 1951.

United Artists October 2004

At this website http://www.fivecentsplease.org/dpb/football.html  you can see all the different answers that Lucy has for Charlie Brown from "you might get your shoes dirty" and including "to everything there is a season".
Strategic Next Actions are those simple tasks that keep us on the road to achieving our goals, those meaningful objectives. And what does this have to do with Lucy and Charlie Brown? Maybe insanity or maybe just not realizing that using the same tools, personnel and skill to get things done will lead to similar results. For 42 times after asking, pleading and reasoning with Lucy, Charlie Brown still ends up on his back. Often when we set goals for our business and personal life, we forget the same approach, even with a new flourish (like new uniforms or rearranging the office furniture) will likely get the same results. That is what playing football with Lucy is all about.

To start a new game, try to take these five steps to a different outcome.
First, Start simple. Just for a few days, think about strategic next actions as scheduling the obvious. To get different results in our hectic lives we need to schedule more than just the meeting date, we need to schedule the time to prepare for the meeting, too. I don't schedule each phone call that I need to return, but I do schedule blocks of time to deal with calls and emails.

Second, look forward to the next 14 days, what deadlines are you facing? Ask yourself "Is this activity something that supports my goals?" Is this something I need to do to maintain my license, skills, health?" Now, if in the next two weeks, those deadlines don't support your future, ask yourself "Why am I doing these?" Meaningful goals require meaningful work.

Third, now, look at those deadlines and identify what are the next strategic actions that need to happen. These actions have no dependencies--nothing else is needed to complete the action. Write these actions down and schedule them.

Fourth, use strategic next actions to keep you from playing football with Lucy. If Charlie Brown had thought about having a different outcome, he might have started with his approach (his skill), the football (tool) or the ball holder (personnel). By changing the personnel (which he did in 1999), he had a different outcome - although Charles Schultz never shared the result.

Last, when you find you are slipping back to the football field with Charlie Brown and Lucy, just think about what Lucy said "How long? All your life, Charlie Brown ... all your life?" Maybe adding a little humor to some of the repetitive habits we all have, will kick us to a different place.

Copyright 2010 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
419-897-0528
http://www.changinglanes.biz/




Don't Hang Up.
While watching a video of Bob Burg speak during a presentation of his Endless Referrals system something he said hit me like a ton of bricks. Bob said "Your prospects won't hang up on you while they're talking about themselves".

I don't get many hang ups working with warm market and referrals (I can't remember the last one) but I've had a few over the years, mostly from cold calling. You've probably had one or two; you hear a "not interested" and a click right in the middle of your "pitch".

The reason I love this quote is that you can picture your prospect, in the middle of doing what they do during their busy day, and see them thinking "what's this guy trying to sell me". Click. If you're prospect ever feels like they're being sold, you've lost them.

So here's your mission, should you choose to accept it; Think of 3 questions that you can ask to find out IF the person on the other end of the phone is a good candidate for your product or service. Keep them short and to the point but make sure that each question creates a curiosity about what you do.

For example:

Hello Mr. Prospect. My name is ____ and I help busy business owners get more people in their door without working any harder than they are now.

Do you look for easy new ways to find more customers? Listen to the answer!

Is creating pre-sold and pre-qualified leads something you'd want to know more about? Listen to the answer!

If there was a way to generate more good will and more referrals for less than the cost of most candy bars is that something you'd want to see? Listen to the answer!

Quickly show you them they have a problem you can solve. Get your prospect to ASK you how quickly you can show them how to alleviate their pain. Guaranteed they won't hang up on you while you're setting the appointment.

Copyright 2010 Todd Pillars is an Appreciation Marketer with Send Out Cards.
Please contact him today at 419-855-2273 or tpillars@gmail.com to SUPERCharge your Referrals! Surf on over to http://www.sendoutcards.com/tpillar s to send someone an Awesome Day!