Progress Not Perfection

Lone Wolf Indomitable Hero Stray Dog. Denzel Washington remoulds the 80s’ tv series, The Equalizer. (Lose the ‘z’ please).

My screenpic above is of a crisp sandwich. Denzel inspects it with disdain. He’s tried seemingly in vain to alter the poor dietary intake of an obese colleague. Hoping to pass an imminent fitness exam for security guard promotion.

His friend knows he’s in the wrong but protests that changing ways is so hard. By way of encouragement, Denzel offers this tip;

progress, not perfection.

A phrase tailor-made for sales coaching.

One of my big hurdles helping salespeople discard years of bad habits and instead ingrain correct thinking is that it can be so daunting.

In the main, these sellers are already successful. Earning decent dough. Plaudits aplenty. So why change?

It is a conundrum many good performers face. Yet if you truly want to become worldclass, you must move up.

At this time of Resolutions (Sales siblings of which I’ve blogged on before) my thoughts turn to starting the new year as you mean to go on.

Every publisher promotes their take on resolutions. For instance, here’s one suggesting small adjustments can make big differences.

By coincidence, a lifestyle bestseller recommends something similar when it comes to precisely how you leave the crisp sarnies behind.

Amelia Freer Cook Nourish Glow is inescapable right now. You surely can’t argue with her when she cites health author Ann Wigmore on food being either powerful medicine or slow poison.

Here’s one quote that’s all over the blanket book pr that’s a “main principle” of hers with direct relevance to us;

“Big changes are hard to make; small ones are easy.

So rather than trying to quit sugar overnight, go from two sugars in your tea to one, to eventually none.”

This is also in the context of her discovering that to demand dieters cut out all their favourite foods straight away was an error; “I was setting them up to fail by raising the bar so high”. She further reveals a slant on Denzel’s wisdom;

be consistent, not perfect.

This other key principle of hers also translates snugly into selling.

The Sales drive is clear. What are the little tweaks you can introduce that should propel what you do higher? And how can you ensure you keep repeating them?