Do You Have A Planning Process?

In Geoff Colvin's most excellent book, "Talent Is Overrated", example after example of top performer is examined with one conclusion -- top performers don't get there by accident.  It's not about being a natural-born anything, it's about Consistent, Deliberate Practice.

Top performers are consistently working on the things that they need to get better on, and they practice "the basics" in a very deliberate way.

That's worth saying again -- Consistent, Deliberate Practice.

So how, you might be wondering, does this relate to having a Planning Process?  A process is defined.  By its very nature, it is something that can be practiced.  There are concrete steps that can be executed well (or poorly).

I advocate having a planning process that is simple enough to be accomplished quickly when appropriate, yet flexible enough to work across a broad spectrum of complex situations.  Do only the amount of planning that is required for the situation, no more or less; let the situation drive your use of the process.

Kevin Hogan, in his book "The Psychology of Persuasion", refers to a planning process he calls Outcome Based Thinking (OBT).  OBT has its roots in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and is oriented towards communication.  "All Master Persuaders use this process," he says, "whether they are conscious of it or not."  OBT is a perfect model for pre-call planning.

Here is the version of OBT I recommend to my clients:

1. What is the situation?
2. What do you hope to achieve from this communciation?
3. What does the other person want?
4. What might win-win look like?
5. What problems could arise?
6. How could you deal with each problem in a way that benefits the other person as well as you?
7. How will you close this communication in a way that moves your sales process forward?

In many situations, this Planning Process can be accomplished in 3 to 5 minutes.  It can also help you to craft a strategy for more difficult situations; more (or less) time can be invested as needed.  The answers to these questions helps you to craft a strategy or approach to the situation; it helps you to anticipate the problems that could come up; it helps you to Be Prepared for what may come.  It helps you Begin With The End In Mind.

The good news is that it's a pretty simple process.  The bad news is that it's deceptively simple.  There are good ways and not so good ways to address each of the questions in the process.  More about that in future posts.

If you're interested in getting started, I highly recommend that you start a Sales Logbook and write down your answers to these questions (this is your pre-call plan).  Treat this as Deliberate Practice.  BE deliberate when you're doing it.  At the end of your call, write down a few notes about how well your plan matched the actual situation and what your next pre-call plan should take in account with this client (this is your post-call analysis).

Don't get discouraged if you had to throw out your plan because something changed.  It's OK to throw out your plan, but you can't do it if you don't have one.  The more often you Practice this process in a Deliberate fashion, the better you'll get.  The good news is that the first 100 times are the hardest.  Here's a question to ponder, how many days will it take you to log 100 planning sessions?  If you make 15 visits per week, that's about 7 weeks, right?  Take the challenge -- Practice this Planning Process, Deliberately, for a minimum of 100 times.  I promise that you'll notice a difference.