• July 10, 2014
  • Mark LaCour
  • 0

three

If you are not producing the results that you want right now, it’s likely that you aren’t doing so for one of the following three reasons: 1). you are taking the wrong action, 2). you are taking no action, or 3). you are taking too little action.

Wrong Action

If you aren’t producing the result you need now, it may be because you are taking the wrong action. I’ve heard Anthony Robbins describe this as “running West looking for a sunrise.”

The wrong set of actions will prevent you from getting the results you want. You want new customers, but you invest your time researching instead of reaching out. You want better margins, but you continually lower your price to win new business. You want more margin in your life for the things that are really important, but you say “yes” to small things, which means you are automatically saying “no” to something bigger.

Sometimes taking the right action means first saying “no” to the wrong action. If what you are doing isn’t working, it’s time to try something different.

No Action

The only thing worse than taking the wrong action is taking no action. If you are running West looking for a sunrise, at least you are running. All you need to do is turn around. Taking no action is the surest recipe for zero results!

You want to try content marketing, but you sleep in instead of getting up to write a blog post. You desperately need new customers, but you spend your time on the Internet instead. You know what the next, best action you need to take is, but then, there is Angry Birds, Candy Crush, or some other app that grabs your attention. So, you take no action.

The remedy here is to start doing something. It’s better to take the wrong action than to do nothing. At least with the wrong action you get feedback and you can make adjustments.

Too Little Action

Big results require big actions. Sometimes you can be doing everything right, but just not enough of it to get the results you need.

You’re making calls to new prospective clients. Yeah, like three calls this month. Of course, you didn’t win any new clients (too little action). You went out and exercised this week. Once, and you don’t feel any healthier. That content marketing plan? You wrote a single blog post seven weeks ago.

Nothing works if you don’t. If others are producing the result you want now, it’s likely they’re taking a set of purposeful, tried-and-true actions to produce those results. It’s also likely they’re doing more of it than you are.

Think about a result you want for yourself right now. Are you taking the actions necessary to produce that result? Are you taking any action at all? Are you doing enough of what needs to be done?

 

Contributor Anthony Iannarino is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and consultant. He writes daily at www.thesalesblog.com and you can subscribe to his newsletter at www.thesalesblog.com/newsletter.