The better you look after your customers, the stronger their relationship with your direct sales or party plan business will be.
Customers who feel they’re taken care of by you, are more likely to re-book parties or even join your team.
Customer care is that personal touch that makes people feel special, seen and appreciated. And you want every single customer to feel like that after ordering from you.
I’ve got 5 tips for fabulous customer care and follow-up that you can use to rock your customer relationships. These tips are not about being accessible, friendly and easy to do business with. I assume you do all that already.
These tips are about caring for the customer relationship with your biz.
Make it super easy for you to reach customers
Get into the habit of always asking for your customers mobile number and email address.
That way you can create a customer text message group or an email list to keep in touch.
Send out monthly customer newsletters via email
Keep your monthly email short but interesting and informative.
This email is about relationship building – not just sales.
Share product tips or hacks, share company offers for the month, offer incentives to book a party or join your team. If the company doesn’t have any incentives going, create your own!
Give every customer a loyalty card to your direct sales biz
With every order, give your customers a loyalty card. I’ve created a few blank loyalty cards for you to use.
To make it a little easier, offer a 10% off your next order discount card. Make sure you add an expiry date (ie. 30 or 60 days), this will also give you a great reason to follow-up with them before the card expires.
You could say something like: “I didn’t want you to miss out on the 10% discount I gave you…“
For that to work, you’ll need to keep track of who you’ve given a discount card to and when!
Fill out the form below to get the free discount cards I’ve created for you. Just print them on some good quality paper, add your details and you’re good to go!
Organize your own direct sales parties
Organize your own events and invite all your customers along. You could hold a customer appreciation night, new catalog launch party, a new product launch party, etc.
Create some special offers for the night that can only be accessed by customers that attend your event. This is a very powerful way to build relationships with your customers and hosts.
If you sell a consumable product in your direct sales business, sampling is a fantastic way to grow your direct sales business.
According to GCI Magazine, the objective of sampling is to enhance your customers’ experience and increase loyalty. Providing product samples allows your customers to try different products and create an opportunity for customer care calls to gain feedback and stay in touch.
Pyschologists have shown that people who receive free samples are more likely to buy the products and become loyal customers. Giving out samples helps you to:
Raise awareness: 60% of customers were not aware of a product before receiving a sample.
Increase purchase intent: 92% of people say they will buy a product if they like it after receiving a sample.
How to Maximize the Sample Opportunity as a Direct Seller
Whenever you give a sample, always ask permission to follow-up with the customer in a few days to find out how they found the product. Make sure you jot down their details and book a follow-up call when you give them the sample. At the very least, give them your details and ask them to provide feedback.
Sampling is a great opportunity for follow-up contact, so don’t squander it! (If you find following-up difficult, check out this article for some tips)
Avoid offering a sample too early in the conversation. You want to make sure they don’t already have the intention to purchase the product you want to encourage them to try. Making a sale on the spot is always the first preference.
Try to offer a sample that complements the other products they have where possible, they might just love the entire range!
Sampling also works well when an entirely new product or range is released. Remember that figure above? 92% Of people say they’ll buy a product if they liked the sample!
What to say when giving a sample
If you find it hard to find the words to secure that follow-up, here are some ideas to get you started:
Let’s chat briefly in a few days so you can give me feedback on this product.
Let’s book in a follow-up consultation to see how you’re going with this neproduct….is an evening or weekend better for you?
The sample I’ll leave you with today compliments your purchase wonderfully. I’ll touch base in a few days to see how you’re finding using the these together and to see if you have any questions.
I’d like to give you a super quick call in a few days about the product. It’s brand new so I’m so curious to know what you think of it!
Top Sampling Tips
If your direct sales company doesn’t offer samples, it’s easy to create your own. Jump online and do a quick search for sample pots or sample sachets. There are a lot of affordable options out there.
If you want to fancy it up, you can even order your own stickers and labels to make it look professional. Remember to put your contact details on them!
Keep a log of who you’ve given samples to. It’ll help you when it comes to follow-up too!
Always keep some samples with you so you can make new connections and create new leads when an opportunity arises.
The best way to achieve your direct sales goals is to keep them somewhere you’ll see them every day.
Seeing them will prompt you to visualize achieving your goals and in turn this will activate the creative powers of your subconscious mind to help you.
You might find that you’ll notice opportunities more easily, you might have more creative ideas for your business, you might find that you’re more focused every day.
The best way to achieve your direct sales goals is to keep them somewhere you’ll see them every day.
No, that’s not by magic…but by using your Reticular Activating System in your brain.
You can train this Reticular Activating System and that will help you to maintain your focus and use your subconscious mind to work on your goal with you (more in this article).
To keep your goals where you can see them every day, you can create a visionboard. And if you do it right, it might just be the the most valuable time you invest in your business all year!
I’ve got some (research-based) tips for you to ensure your visionboard is more than just a collection of wishes and pictures. Let’s create a visionboard that actually works.
4 Steps to creating the best traditional visionboard
Step 1 – Connect your vision to actions and feelings
It is vital that you connect your visionboard to action steps and plans.
Scroll down to sign-up for a printable that will help you to set goals but also to look forward and think about possible obstacles or difficulties.
Once you’ve identified likely obstacles, you can think about how to deal with them should they occur.
By thinking about this in advance, you prevent that a small set-back gets you off-track. Knowing that you can get back on track and the knowledge that small difficulties are normal, are the key to not losing that motivation and drive throughout the year.
Once you’ve set out your goals dealt with obstacles, you need to ‘cement’ them in your mind by attaching a feeling to the outcome. Imagine how you’ll feel once you’ve achieved each goal. Really feel it. Then write it down.
Now you’ve created a very powerful document for yourself so keep it close!
I recommend that you set goals for no more than 1 year ahead. If you set goals for further into the future it’s quite hard to connect the vision or goal with action steps.
Step 2 – Start creating
Example of a physical vision board.
Once you are clear on the goals, plans and feelings it’s time to create the actual visionboard!
Start by looking for pictures that represent your goals. You can use photographs, magazine cut-outs, or just Google the images you want.
I love using Pinterest to find images that resonate with me. Every year I create a secret board for my goals as a step to creating my vision board.
From the images you’ve collected, create a collage. I suggest making two, a physical collage to hang up in your office and a digital one.
You can also put your visionboard somewhere more private. Some people have their vision board inside the door of a cupboard they access regularly, and this can work very well too.
For my digital visionboard I love to use a photo collage app. Once I finish creating it, I use it as a lock-screen image and screen saver on all my devices. This way I see it quite often throughout the day.
Jack Canfield warns that it’s important to keep your vision board neat. Avoid creating a cluttered or chaotic board because you don’t want to attract chaos in your life!
Step 3 – Add affirmations and quotes
Add motivational or affirmation words and inspirational quotes to your visionboard. Choose the ones that represent how you want to feel while you’re striving for your goal and when you achieve it.
Step 4 – Make time to review your vision board every day
Remember to take a few moments to review your vision board every day. Especially when you wake up or just before you go to bed!
You want to make sure that your vision board doesn’t just become ‘background noise’ in your life – so you need to make an effort to pay attention to it.
Now, if you want to take your vision board even further, check out the app Positive Prime. It combines the benefits of vision boards with the latest research in neuroscience and positive psychology to make one awesomely powerful app!
It’s super fun, super convenient and it’s my new favorite way to help me stay on track and stay motivated. Read more here.
It’s important to prepare for your direct sales business restart January, in December (or even November) of the previous year.
“What? Why?” I hear you ask…
The reason you want to prepare for restarting your business is because it way too easy for the weeks to fly by while you’re caught up in the daily stuff.
And before you know it’s Easter before you even restart your business. You don’t want to fall into the trap of taking a break over Christmas and then fizzling out for several months before even thinking about your business.
Instead, by preparing for your restart you’ll enjoy the jump back into your direct sales biz and you’ll be up and running again right at the start of the year.
If you’re reading this and it’s already January don’t worry: Still download the worksheets and plan your year – it’s super important to set goals and get yourself moving. It’s not too late!
Visionboard
Take some time to reflect on what it is that you want to achieve in your direct sales business. What is your vision for your business? Where do you want to be in a year’s time?
Set your intentions for the next year.
However, it’s important that you not just think through your vision but the possible obstacles that you might encounter too, so you can prepare for that.
If you want to something more advanced and interactive than a vision board, check out the article Fuel Your Goals With Positive Prime – that’ll boost your motivation and focus in just 3 minutes per day!
Set Your Business Goals for The Year
Now that you are clear on your vision, it’s time to set your goals. I have a Goal Planner that will help with that.
Don’t skip this step!
Setting tangible goals for the year and then drilling down to January and even the next 3 days, will help you to take actions to actually achieve your vision!
Grab the goal planner below to use for your direct sales biz.
Capitalize on your December parties
During December (or even November), you can start filling up your January diary by inviting the party host to book a party in January now.
Talk to the host at her party (or afterwards if it’s an online party). You explain to her:
That it would be nice to host another party in January because there were probably people that couldn’t make this party that she might want to invite to the January party.
There will be new products to play with! Most companies will have new products or product ranges in January.
Offer a very different party theme, especially if your company doesn’t have new products in January.
If she books that January party now, she’ll get this wonderful incentive you’ve prepared.
Your booking incentive could be a good quality product, a basket you’ve created with a few smaller products and dressed up with ribbons, or a bottle of bubbly.
Don’t give this incentive at the December party, keep it until January – you don’t want her cancelling on you with you losing your incentive.
Bonus Tip for November and December parties
When someone says in November or December that they’ll call you in January for a booking – pencil in a date immediately instead of waiting for that call. I usually say something like: “January is such a busy time of year for me with so many people wanting a casual catch-up with friends after the busy season. So let’s pencil something in now and you can let your friends know about it if you see them over the festive season. If the date doesn’t end up suiting, we can try to find a better time in January.”
I then follow-up with a postcard to thank them for their booking and I include all the details of their party (such as the date & time and party theme).
Reading this in January?
If you didn’t do this in November or December and it’s now January: don’t worry not all is lost. I would grab the January coupons from this article and contact the hosts that partied with you between October and December. You thank them for hosting a party last year, explain that you have some very different themes or products to try and offer the January coupon as an incentive.
Use the brainstorm printable that will help you kickstart the year
Print the brainstorm printable (grab it below) and take some time to work through it.
This is another activity that you don’t want to skip. Intentionally sitting down and working through all the prompts on the printable will yield more than you think, most people surprise themselves with how much more they can come up with on the worksheet.
This printable will help you to remember and write down contacts, people who said maybe, and work out ways outside of parties to get new bookings.
Once you’ve completed the activity, you’ll have a wonderful checklist for new actions that will help you to kickstart the year!
Host your own party to showcase the new products
If your company has released new products and a new catalog, it’s time to host your own party.
Make it a fun event with some lucky door prizes and invite all your good customers and hosts.
You can run this as a ‘mystery host’ party. This is where you give out tickets or points for every $10 spent (or some other amount that works in your business). At the end of the party you then draw a winner who is the ‘mystery host’ and gets the host rewards for that party (providing a host reward level was achieved).
And of course, from this party you want to get some new bookings.
The best way to get bookings is to have some new themes (perhaps related to the new products) available. Set up a display where you advertise these new themes to entice your guests.
To top it off, set a booking incentive and display it at the party.
Set your own booking incentive
There are different ways you can offer an incentive for bookings.
You can create a bundle of products that you received for free or at a discount, you can offer a high-end product that’s desirable, you can make your own basket with a wine and some chocolates. Just make it look really pretty and enticing!
Here are a few ways in which you can offer the incentive. You can offer the incentive for each person who books in January (don’t book too far ahead, you’ll see more cancellations that way).
However if you need to control your diary, you can offer the incentive for certain dates. I usually print off a calendar and put stars on the dates that I want them to book on. If someone books on a ‘star date’ they earn the incentive.
By setting your intentions and goals for next year, followed by actions to get party bookings, sales and recruits, you’ll set yourself up for a great direct sales year!
It can be life-changing—I’ve seen it happen many times in my organization and experienced it myself.
Yet, I also see far too many people fail. And I hate to see people fail for avoidable reasons.
So let’s have a look at the top 3 reasons why people fail in direct sales so you can avoid it and if you’re a leader, you can help your new team members to avoid failure!
Reason #3 Shiny Object Syndrome
I know many people who have left a fabulous business to go to a new ‘shiny’ opportunity again and again. They flit from direct sales company to direct sales company without persisting in one business and never staying long enough to make it a true success.
In other people ‘shiny object syndrome’ manifests as not not giving enough of their focus and attention to a direct sales business to get it properly off the ground. They then add on another direct sales business, scattering their focus even further.
People with ‘shiny object syndrome’ assume the grass is greener elsewhere but here’s the rub: the grass is greener where you water it!
If you feel that the direct sales business you’re with isn’t a good fit for some reason, I caution you to examine your motives so you don’t make the ‘shiny object syndrome’ mistake and leave a successful business just because you assume the grass is greener over there.
I’ve seen many a consultant being wooed by a new opportunity only to discover it wasn’t everything they hoped it would be. And in some cases the new company closed up shop and these consultants went back to their previous company, but now they had to start from scratch again.
I also know many direct sellers who represent four or five different brands without being successful in any of them as they can’t give so many businesses their full focus and attention. Pick one (or two, at the most) and focus your time and attention on there if you want to be truly successful.
Reason #2 Failure to Launch
Some consultants just never get their business off the ground properly in the first place. There are many factors that play into this, but this is what I see:
They ask one or two people to host a party for their launch but get “No’s”. They don’t a get a party after asking only a couple of people and they give up.
They put a post on their social media announcing their new business. But when nobody rushes to them to order products or book a party, they assume no one is interested and give up.
A failure to launch is a real shame because with a bit of persistence (and sometimes a bit of training by their upline) they could make a success of their biz.
If you want to know how to do a great (re-)launch, check this article.
Reason #1 Being Too ‘spammy’ and ‘salesy’ on social
The main reason I see people fail is that they are far too spammy and salesy. They signed up to be ‘social sellers‘ but no one told them that the most important bit of that is the ‘social’ part.
Many direct sellers that only operate on social media (as opposed to also doing in-home parties or demonstrations) have been sold on the opportunity with promises that it’s easy, that it won’t cost you much time and that you could do it from your bed if you wanted.
However, you’re running a business and you should treat it as such. Yes, you can work in pockets of time and work around other commitments or family. But that only works if you know what to do with that time – doing things that further your business.
Don’t let your business or your new team members become a failure statistic. Do a proper launch, be consistent with your activities that actually work and don’t keep looking for new and shiny opportunities.
Persist and it will pay off.
Using the principles in this book, I built a global $20-million direct sales business.
In ‘Growing Your Direct Sales Team,’ I share my tried and tested methods from my 20 years in the industry.
My book comes with dozens of worksheets, checklists, and templates to get you on your road to success.
Unlock the full potential of your sales strategy with GenieChat
The all-in-one CRM solution designed to make your life easier and your profits higher.
The cutting-edge platform simplifies customer relationship management with personal reminders, ensuring you never miss an opportunity to connect.
Did you know that 50% of sales happen after the fifth touch? GenieChat helps you effortlessly nurture those crucial relationships, maximizing your follow-up average to convert more leads into loyal customers.
Unleash the power of the Magic Message Generator, featuring integrated, unlimited AI-generated replies, answers, and invites that take the guesswork out of communication. But that’s not all—GenieChat’s unlimited duplication and team-sharing capabilities allow you to impart super-seller powers to your team. Share content, scripts, videos, and more with just a click. Say goodbye to missed opportunities and hello to seamless, effective selling with GenieChat.
Far too many people are afraid of hearing the word “no”.
And I get it. I used to be afraid of rejection too. For the first 2 years in my business I hardly achieved anything. I was afraid to ask and by avoiding the ask I rejected myself in advance. I was saying “No” to myself before anyone else had a chance to.
In this article I share how I got over that fear and build a multimillion dollar direct sales business.
The art of asking
There’s an art…or maybe a science to asking and getting what you want. I found the book “The Aladdin Factor” by Marc Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield very helpful. They recommend asking as if you’re expecting to get a “yes”. You also want to assume that you can get a “yes” in general – don’t just hope. You also need to ask more than once.
I recommend you grab yourself a copy of this book to improve the way you ask!
Persistence does pay off
Persistence has been key to my success. You want to keep asking because they might say “yes” when they’re in a better mood, when their circumstances have changed, when you have a better offer that suits their needs, or when you’ve learned to ask better!
Early on in my business I was too afraid of hearing “no” to follow-up and ask. To help encourage myself to take action, I gamified the process.
I started by rewarding myself with $1 for every follow-up call, regardless of the outcome. My goal was to get myself moving and to overcome my fear of rejection. When I’d made enough calls, I treated myself and my husband to a night out at the movies. As I got better at making the follow-up calls, I moved on from $1 coins and made myself a star chart. I gave myself a gold star every time I made a call!
The reward you choose doesn’t matter, the process of rewarding yourself for taking action gives you a boost of dopamine in the brain, which reinforces the action.
As you’re training your brain to love taking action you will notice it gets easier and easier to follow-up! And of course the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it and you’ll start hearing that ‘yes’ more and more!
Keep a Leads Book to Help your Follow-Up
The statistics that have most inspired me to keep going with follow-ups came from a marketing specialist at Notre Dame University. They found that 94% of all sales people quit after the 4th call. However 60% of all sales were made after the 4th call.
I didn’t want to keep missing out on 60% of potential business because I wasn’t following up enough!
So I started keeping all my follow-up information in a leads book (but you could also use a spreadsheet, I happen to be old school). I allocate 1 page per lead and I keep track of my follow-ups with dates and notes. I try to add personal information so contact from me feels personal and friendly.
I also make sure I vary the method of follow-up. Sometimes it’s a phone call, then a text message, other times I send something in the mail. This keeps me in their thoughts but it doesn’t feel repetitive.
I have some leads that I’d been following up with for five years before they finally joined my direct sales team – persistence paid off eventually!
Don’t be a bulldozer
At this point I want to make sure you understand that I’m not a bulldozer when it comes to follow-up.
I not only vary the means of follow-up so I don’t hound them with phone calls or spam them with texts, but I also always offer them an “opt out”. I literally say something like: “if you’d like to stop hearing from me, just let me know” or something similar.
I don’t want to be pushy or spammy so I’m keeping it light and friendly and respect their boundaries!
How to think of follow-ups
I was told by a mentor long ago to think of follow-up like offering everyone cake at your wedding.
Some people love wedding cake and eagerly say yes … others say no. Maybe they’re on a diet, maybe they’re allergic to gluten, or maybe they just don’t like cake!
The bride doesn’t take it personally, she just offers it to the next person. I like to think of everyone I follow up as wedding guests – I have something wonderful to offer them and it may or may not be for them.
Want to learn all my secrets to growing a direct sales team? This book has everything I have learned from the industry in the last 20 years. I’ve tried and tested many methods to arrive at my winning formula!
Unlock the full potential of your sales strategy with GenieChat
The all-in-one CRM solution designed to make your life easier and your profits higher.
The cutting-edge platform simplifies customer relationship management with personal reminders, ensuring you never miss an opportunity to connect.
Did you know that 50% of sales happen after the fifth touch? GenieChat helps you effortlessly nurture those crucial relationships, maximizing your follow-up average to convert more leads into loyal customers.
Unleash the power of the Magic Message Generator, featuring integrated, unlimited AI-generated replies, answers, and invites that take the guesswork out of communication. But that’s not all—GenieChat’s unlimited duplication and team-sharing capabilities allow you to impart super-seller powers to your team. Share content, scripts, videos, and more with just a click. Say goodbye to missed opportunities and hello to seamless, effective selling with GenieChat.
As a direct seller, it’s essential to have a constant flow of new leads.
One way to generate leads in new circles is to create a “survey box.”
Use a pretty box and a pretty prize.
I like to make the boxes where I collect completed surveys look pretty. I’ve found that the prettier and more eye-catching they are, the better they work!
I leave the survey box in a business for one week. I have a sign explaining when the parcel will be collected and that anyone who completes a survey will go in a lucky draw for a prize.
It works best if you can display the prize with the survey box.
The prize doesn’t have to be very expensive – if you’ve got a spare product, you could add some chocolates, wrap it all up in clear cellophane with a bow or ribbons, and it suddenly looks beautiful.
What do you ask in the survey?
You’ll need to ask a few relevant questions about your business or field on the form. Don’t make it too long and difficult to fill in; it should not just be a raffle ticket.
The answers on the survey forms will give you a good starting point for a conversation when you follow up with people.
I’ve provided 2 example surveys you can grab by filling in the form below. One example is for a health or wellness product, and the other is for a beauty company.
You can swipe the examples for your business or use them as a starting point to create your own forms.
Where to put your survey boxes
I’ve found that gyms, restaurants, waiting rooms, local real estate agencies, and libraries are great places to leave survey boxes. The key to making it work is to offer a small ‘bribe’ to someone at the premises to keep an eye on it for you.
Perhaps you can ask friends or family to take a survey box to their work for a week? Create a few pretty survey boxes, post a photo on social media, and ask if anybody local is prepared to “host” a box for a week.
The survey box strategy is a numbers game. Many entrants won’t be interested in your business but want a prize. That’s fine. You’ll likely find that some locations yield nothing, but others will be a gold mine for new contacts. So get lots of boxes out there!
And then, of course, you follow up with everybody who’s filled in a survey! So check this article on how to make your follow-up strategy sing!
Bonus tip: post a photo of the winner with their prize on social media to increase your credibility and build social proof.
Want to learn all my secrets to growing a direct sales team? This book has everything I have learned from the industry in the last 20 years. I’ve tried and tested many methods to arrive at my winning formula!
Far too many people in direct sales or party plan businesses are afraid of rejection. They’re afraid of hearing the word “no“.
And I get it. I used to be afraid of rejection too.
In the first 2 years of my business, I did not sponsor anybody. At all!
I was afraid to ask, and by avoiding the ask, I rejected myself in advance.
I was saying “no” to myself before anybody else had a chance to.
So how do you change this?
You need to change your outlook on asking and following up. Because there’s nothing to lose by asking.
Thought exercise
Imagine you ask a friend to host a party for your or join your team. Imagine she says, “no,”. There it is, the dreaded no…
But what actually happened? In reality, nothing happened because before you asked, she wasn’t on your team, and she wasn’t hosting a party.
And after asking, that’s still the situation.
And you’ve spent your whole life without her on your team, so you know how to deal with that!
How to ask for what you want
There’s an art (or science) to asking and getting what you want. I found some great tips in the book The Alladin Factor by Marc Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield.
Ask your sales lead to join as if you expect them to. Ask with a positive expectation, as if you expect to get a “yes.”
Assume that you are able to get new team members (or bookings). Assume you can get a “yes.”
Ask repeatedly. One of the most important traits of success is persistence. So don’t give up.
Are you persistent?
You want to keep asking your leads (without annoying them!) because they might say YES…
on a different day
when she’s in a different mood
when her circumstances have changed
when your company has a different offer
when you’ve learned to ask better
The statistics that have most inspired me to be persistent came from research by a marketing specialist at Notre Dame University:
94% of all salespeople quit after the 4th call. However, 60% of all sales are made after the 4th call!
I didn’t want to keep missing out on 60% of my bookings or recruits because I wasn’t asking and following up enough.
You need to get used to the idea that there’s going to be a lot of rejection along the way to your goals. Don’t take the rejection personally – they are not rejecting you as a person.
Don’t give up. Develop tenacity and persistence. When someone says “no”, you ask someone else. It’s that simple.
Using the principles in this book, I built a global $20-million direct sales business.
In ‘Growing Your Direct Sales Team,’ I share my tried and tested methods from my 20 years in the industry.
My book comes with dozens of worksheets, checklists, and templates to get you on your road to success.
If you find it hard to complete things because they are “not good enough” yet, then you’re letting ‘perfect’ be the enemy of ‘good.’
I mean that sometimes we have this idea of what something should be like, the perfect, and we strive to reach it.
But you never will because perfection is impossible.
Right now, I want you to permit yourself not tobe perfect. None of us are perfect, and none of us ever achieve perfection. And that’s okay.
And this idea of perfection and reaching perfection is holding people back, it’s incredibly paralyzing, but if something isn’t perfect, then that automatically means you’ll have failed.
You are Good enough
You need to adopt an attitude of “good enough” or even “bad but finished.” That way, there’s so much more scope to be successful, and there’ll be less fear of failure.
If your business Facebook page isn’t perfect, that’s fine, as long as it’s good enough.
If your emails aren’t perfect, that’s okay if they’re good enough and you get your message out.
Your exercise routine probably isn’t perfect, but that doesn’t matter. As long as you get yourself moving regularly, it’s good enough.
Buying a new car is fraught with decisions and, for many people, causes anxiety. But you don’t need to find the perfect vehicle! Instead, you need to find one good enough for your purposes.
Pareto Principle
Have you ever heard of the Pareto Principle? It’s also known as the 80-20 rule, which usually takes 20 percent of the time to complete 80 percent of a task. However, completing the last 20 percent of the task takes 80 percent of the effort.
So at 80 percent completion, can you perhaps declare it “good enough”? What else do you need to do to finish right now? Knowing that the last 20 percent takes 80 percent of the effort and that perfection is impossible, it makes no sense to continue working away at something already good enough.
Experience the freedom of doing it badly.
Perfection is especially detrimental to creativity. Let me give you a quick experience of this. Grab a piece of paper and a pen. I want you to come up with five great ideas for booking games. They must be new ideas, creative, innovative, and perfect. You have 5 minutes….start now!
Do you have any ideas yet?
Okay. Grab a new piece of paper and write down five bad ideas for sponsoring people in your organization. These are just five terrible recruiting ideas. You have 5 minutes again….go now!
Do you have ideas now?
What happened? If you’re like most people, you had many more ideas in the second activity because you permitted yourself to come up with any ideas. Most people find it easier and more fun than the first activity, where you were looking for great ideas. Trying to be great or perfect stifles creativity. It paralyzes you.
What would happen if you put on a timer for ten minutes and wrote down every terrible idea for sponsoring games, recruiting seeds, conversation starters, etc., that you could think of? Then, of course, you would write down plenty of bad ideas and some good enough ideas that could work.
Letting go of perfection is freeing.
Permitting yourself to do it “badly” lets you get on with the job and get things done. And by getting things done, you keep the momentum going.
So how do you ensure that what you do is good enough? By focusing on the process. Try to improve the process, and don’t focus too much on the result. For example, you will increase sales, bookings, and recruiting leads by making your parties and events more enjoyable for you, the host, and the guests.
By doing the process well, the result will be better. So that’s where you want to focus your improvements, not on the outcome.
Because focusing too much on the result makes you needy, locks you up, takes the joy out of the process, and leads to perfectionism.
And perfection is the enemy of good and the enemy of done.
