Me, Myself, and This Guy – Part 2

In a recent post we began speaking about personal responsibility as I was reading an excerpt from my book. Here is the rest of the story:

“It all suddenly seemed so clear. I came to understand that I had absolute control over how I responded to problems, which was an exciting concept for me. We can’t control everything that comes our way in life, but we can take control over how we deal with it. Success in life has nothing to do with our circumstances.

It has everything to do with how we cope with our circumstances.

We are completely responsible for those responses. Knowing that I was responsible gave me unlimited hope for the future. If I were a victim of uncontrollable and unforeseeable events, what reason would I have to believe that better things would miraculously begin coming my way? On the other hand, if I had complete control over my responses in life and making better choices would mean a better life, I held the key to success in my hand. I was in control.

I was responsible. This was incredibly liberating for me.”

The Blame Game

Now, I think that’s why in terms of your business, your career as a service technician or salesperson will come face to face with the concept of holding yourself responsible.

Think about this: the root word of responsibility is RESPONSE. Taking responsibility starts with your response to challenges.

If you go around blaming everything else for a lack of success, maybe by believing the competition’s too cheap or the homeowners are too cheap or it’s because of the weather or whatever it is, then just think logically what that means.

That means you’re never going to have the success you want until the competitors, the homeowners and the weather all fit your perfect idea of what they should be. In other words, if you believe your failure is a reflection of other people’s activities, then that means success would have to be a reflection of other people’s activities too. Where does that leave you and how much you actually control your own outcome?

Who’s In Control Here?

If you think your failure is the responsibility of other people, cheap competitors, whatever, but then you have a great week, well, that means you just got lucky, right?

Wrong! That’s not what it means at all. It means that as you get better at making responsible choices for these challenges (better decisions in response to cheap competitors, bad economy, the weather, etc.), then the more successful you’re going to be. What does that mean exactly?

That means preparing yourself, practicing role playing, studying sales and all the skills needed for your career. Are you in constant training? How are you bettering yourself and your odds of success?

I wish you could see my desk right now. I have 10 sales books on my desk. I’m not kidding. I have cabinets full of books because I’m always studying sales and business. Why? Because my success is guaranteed if I do one thing — make myself better today than I was yesterday.

A For Effort?

As a service technician or salesperson, you partake in ongoing continuing education and obtaining certifications. It can take weeks of studying to prepare to pass.

But how often do you put that same effort in getting better at telling stories or getting better at closing or getting better at presenting, etc? You’ve got to do that in the confines of your office before you’re face to face with customers. You’ve got to do it in the confines of your meetings and you’ve got to practice. Practice the basic conversations. Practice with co-workers, your spouse or the mirror.

We always talk about the three kinds of core components to the service call. You start with the introduction (where you set the groundwork). And then you work in mechanical magic and then you do your summary and your close.

Take each of those sections, for example. We provide training for your team on these topics as well.

Go back and watch those as a group and practice some. Practice your opening. Practice your closing. That’s the only way to get better. I’ve been speaking now for over a decade and my speaking today is a hell of a lot better than it was then. I remember the first few speeches I did, just very small groups like at Rotary Clubs and Lions Club meetings. I was terrible back then. I didn’t know that, and no one would tell me. It’s a lot different now because I practiced. I practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced. So just keep that in mind that it’s your responsibility to get better.

Your success is not a reflection of the things around you.

Your success is a reflection of what you do about it. It’s not about your boss. It’s not about your service calls or your leads. It’s not about the weather. It’s about how you respond. Responsibility = response.

If the weather is cooperating with you, that can make it easier to be successful, sure. If your competition is more expensive, that might make it easier for you to compete. But if they’re cheap and the weather sucks, that doesn’t mean you can’t compete. That doesn’t mean you can’t win. That means you’ll have to work harder. So the external circumstances can only dictate how hard you’re going to have to work. They can’t determine your ultimate success. There’s no way in the world that I’m going to say that some external factor, something I can’t control, is going to determine the quality of life for me and my family.

Take the same pledge yourself.