Break it Down.

I've alluded to this before but I'm pretty systematic about my goal setting and agenda use. I like to break everything down. I more than touched on it here.

So anyways, here I am, reviewing a pitch. It's a new one and I've revised it. I think that's why I caught myself doing something I hadn't done in awhile.

A few weeks after I had started selling, I found myself improving, some of the time. I tried to take note of how and when things went well or really took a turn for the worse. With some help from my friends/Raoul I came to realize that there are trigger phrases, both good and bad, that work a lot of the time. There are pivotal questions you can ask. I numbered all of the most important aspects. It was the bare bones of a sales pitch.

I didn't succeed in my sales career, at first. It wasn't until last summer, when I was pitching asshole Fortune 500 American CEO's with dicks' that swung low that I got good. It was time to step up, or step aside. I leaned into my first calls. I pushed. As long as I could get from #1-4 or 5 with hard urgency, I could ensure a fair shot at the sale.

I came up with the steps: I had to make a certain number of calls by lunch. I had to make a certain number of calls by the end of the day. I had to make a certain number of calls after the day. I had to do research to make sure I could make enough calls the next day. I went through the steps. I made 60 calls by lunch. And if someone picked up, I started at number one. Number 4 or 5, depending on the pitch, was my goal. I repeated all the steps, every day. That was the best month of my career.

I realized that I make lists and steps intrinsic to complex tasks. It's not just in the agenda. It's more systematic than I thought. And most importantly, if you do what's on the lists, it works.