Start, boss. Just start. This January, master the art of the start. Forget the brittle vows and ghosted gym memberships—the graveyard of New Year’s resolutions is proof that a wish is not a start. Successful selling is a religious repetition of habits. None of these habits will see the light of day if you do not start. So, start.
Start prospecting: it’s sales food
Start prospecting. Prospecting is the never-ending quest of potential buyers for your product. It is sales food. Without it you die. So, starting here makes self-preservation sense. Look at your list of customers, call, and after wishing them “Happy New Year,” ask for a referral. To master the art of the start, act. “Just make it exist first; you can make it good later.”
Master the art of the start: Start before you feel ready: action precedes motivation
If you are going to overcome and cash in on January blues, you have to start. Action precedes motivation and not the other way around. If I must choose between the one that starts with fireworks that quickly fizzle out, and you that is waiting for the right time to start, give me the former any day. At least they have started. At least they have the experience to burn like charcoal the second time round. You, meanwhile, are still awaiting a utopian timing.
Start loving what you hate
So, act. Master the art of the start. Start loving what you hate and be amazed by the results. Start practicing how to handle objections if you have been avoiding them, driven by dread. They are not to be feared, only understood.
Start, investing in back office. Instead of continually blaming them for your lacklustre sales, “love” them. You need them to complete the sale You need Operations to package and ship the 100 cell phones you sold. Without Legal, the sale of the plot will not complete. Without the Product Development Team fulfilling the promise you made to the bank, you will wonder why, at contract renewal the bank declines to.
On inspection you learn that the cheque reading gadget you sold was not firing from all pistons. You knew that, but knew and hoped the Product Development would automatically do their job and get all pistons firing. Turns out they resent your selling products that are not firing from all pistons from go. So, while you lament, they jubilate the loss of sale saying, “That should teach hawa watu wa Sales”
Master the art of the start : Start managing your selling time better
Start, managing your selling time better. If you sell log book loans and have been spending more time moving from Point A to B than engaging customers, master the art of the start by starting to ‘camp’ at a busy parking lot. It’s an easy entry point, sustainable, and a much more rewarding sales activity.
Start understanding: the antidote to regret
It is natural to regret. “I wish I had first established the prospect’s problem before pitching my product. It’s the reason why my performance was so low last year. I had so many appointments but almost all fell flat.” Just as with foolishness, it is acceptable to experience regret for 5 minutes every day-wisdom exists in not exceeding that limit. Now that you have done your 5 minutes today, start seeking first to understand not to close.
“Tumetenga” Tutafanya” and other short stories: let your actions do the talking
Talk is cheap. You know that. Anyone – and everyone – can afford it. New Year resolutions are a festival of affordable talk: grand declarations that, for most, amount to little more than mental fireworks. They are personal versions of “Tutafanya”, “Tumetenga”, “Tuko na mikakati” and “Tumeweka mipango” —the very promises, uttered by no less than the President himself, that have become a national laughing stock. And they teach only one thing: how not to move anyone, least of all yourself.
And why? Because they are just that- words. Hollow and empty. And then there are project launches which are commendable as far as starting is involved, but only to be emulated if celebratory fireworks is the intended effect.
Let them talk; you must do
What this means for you is that talking about what you will do, pales against actually doing it. So do it. Let the cheering squad, naysayers and haters do the talking. “Eish! Karis. You’ve hit the ground running this January. Hutaki jokes na negotiations mwaka huu, eh?” (Wow, Karis. The client called to say they were quite impressed by your negotiation skills. That’s the third one this week. Given how you have started, you are clearly serious about improving your negotiation skills).
Or: “Fatma’s sucking up to the manager. I’ve never liked her but I must say I have never seen her so committed to shadowing Juma to understand how to close better – just like the Manager kept telling her to, last year.”
Master the art of the start: the only command that matters
To master the art of the start, start. The most perfect plan in the world is worthless until it is set in motion. There is only one command, one trick, one secret.
Start.
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