Step Away from the Tools

As nice as it would be if it were different, having the right tools doesn’t mean a thing if you aren’t willing to put in the hard work to use them effectively.

• Setting up a Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn account won’t make you a better communicator. In fact, it’s likely to expose your current weaknesses.

• Setting up a CRM system will be discouraging if you have no prospects/clients to fill it up.

• Having a laundry list of solutions you can take to your clients can actually be distracting and confusing if you don’t understand how they will make a difference when put in place.

Anybody, and I mean ANYBODY, can go out and get the tools. Do you want to separate yourself from the competition? Then focus on the skills you need to make the tools more effective and start a development plan. That’s something all too few anybodies will ever do successfully. I understand that it's difficult, and that’s the very reason you have to go do it.

• If you want to be a better communicator, start with reading more.

• Spend time detailing and executing the marketing/prospecting/sales plan that will produce the prospects/clients that will make a CRM system necessary.

• Look beyond your list of solutions and the features they offer and identify the value they will create when used properly.

Going and getting more tools is the lazy way out. Stop fooling yourself that acquiring them is a step in the right direction; it’s simply allowing you to procrastinate from doing what you really need to be doing.

Photo by Frédéric BISSON.