Consistency Requires Massive Action.

Sales professionals are consistently consistent.

To help kick off our time together, allow this quote courtesy of Paul Merson to simmer for a bit... 

"If you want to be successful, you need consistency and if you don't have it, you've got no chance."

Over 100 years ago, Napoleon Hill once asked Andrew Carnegie what were the keys to his success, upon which Andrew Carnegie said, 

"The keys to my success were in the form of self-discipline and constructive habits."

I recently came across the following through the Farnam Street website...

Anyone can do it once. The best do it consistently.

Anyone can order a healthy meal once. Anyone can get up early to workout once. 

Anyone can save more than they earn for a month. Anyone can take their partner on a date once. 

Anyone can write a page. Anyone can focus on one thing for an hour.

Most people can’t do it consistently because they want instant gratification. They want to see the results ... right now.

Just because the results aren't immediately visible, doesn’t mean they are not accumulating. 

Ordinary moments compound over weeks and months into extraordinary results.

Consistently boring days make for extraordinary decades.

Think about how this all plays out when it comes to building trust in your client relationships and how you prospect for new business.

Consistent action creates consistent results.

Consistency is key component and one massive driver for success. 

Becoming consistent means dedicating yourself to your goals and staying focused on the things and activities to achieve them, even in time where you do not feel like doing them.

This requires a long-term commitment and sustained effort in your actions repeatedly until you've achieved your end result.

Consistency... the difference between success and failure.

Consistency lends itself to:

1. Trust - Consistency in your daily life helps you become more trustworthy in other people’s eyes. People who “walk the talk” are seen as very credible and reliable by others. Think congruency, now think about trust.
2. Relevance and reputation - Maintaining consistency in your actions can make you relevant and build your reputation to others. Consistently completing your tasks and producing quality outcomes can significantly impact your clients perception of you.
3. Accountability - Being consistent makes you responsible for all of your actions because there's no one else to blame if you're the one who is carrying out the necessary tasks to achieve your objectives.
4. Self-Discipline - Consistency in practice breeds discipline, sharpens your attention, and increases your awareness of what needs to be done.

The road toward success is paved with deliberate, repetitive actions that collectively pave a pathway to accomplishment.

CONSISTENCY... LET'S DIVE IN. 

At its core, consistency is all about maintaining uniformity and faithfulness in actions and behaviors over time. 

Whether it’s in achieving personal growth, or excelling professionally, the principle of consistency lies as the unbreakable foundation. 

Consistency is not a mere small act but a commitment to a lifestyle that leads to lasting achievements.

In Craig Groeschel's book, The Power to Change, Mastering the Habits that Matter Most, he goes on to say, 

"Successful people are not lucky. They're consistent."

Successful people start and maintain the right habits and keep doing them.

There is no secret hack, trick, tip or short cut to success.

It's the combination of disciplined habits, consistency and radical levels of self-accountability.

Let's revert back to Craig Groeschel, as he goes on to say, 

"Successful people do consistently what other people do occasionally."

Malcolm Gladwell wrote about consistency in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success. He studied successful people and uncovered one common attribute explaining their success. The answer was 10,000 hours.

Gladwell mentioned, "People who became great at something put in 10,000 hours of practice."

Here lies the mirror moment for many of you... How many in sales, sales management or sales leadership have amassed 10,000 hours of practice?

Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time.

Proverbs 13:11 NLT

Let's breakdown the Proverbs message into sales terms, 

"How fast can I succeed, or at least get to quota, with doing minimal amounts of work, effort and commitment?"

What sets of values, beliefs and desires do you have around working with discipline?

Thomas Edison nailed it,

"There is no substitute for hard work."

What are your daily habits, routines and rituals?

How committed are you to yourself?

As silly as that sounds, a strong work ethic along with self-discipline starts with the consistent commitment you make to yourself.

Consistency breeds predictability.

Are you starting to smell what I'm cooking when it comes to consistency?

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSISTENCY

The road to sales mastery is not an overnight journey. Consistency is about deliberate, focused efforts - not hacks and silver bullets. 

To accomplish what you tell yourself requires massive amounts of discipline and consistency.

Words with no action and discipline lead you down the path to nowhere.

Discipline means consistently doing what you tell yourself you will do without procrastination and without the excuses.

• Do you tell yourself that tomorrow you will start prospecting, but the next day you postpone prospecting?
• Do you promise yourself to start sales practice, but you fail to start?
• Do you promise yourself to take better care of your clients, but then find yourself looking for excuses not to do what you promised yourself to do?

Being consistent in sales builds trust. 

Consistency is mission critical, especially in challenging times when people crave certainty and reassurance.

Consistency is the foundation for long term sustainability.

Consistency builds self-confidence.

Consistency opens the sales door to new opportunities.

Consistency helps you to develop new habits.

How can you make any real changes in your sales life, improve your sales life or make any consistent progress if you're always lying to yourself?

CONSISTENCY IN ACTIONS BUILDS TRUSTED RELATIONSHIPS

Trust is built through consistency, and trust is the foundation of any strong relationship.

Think of your clients... Consistency gives them a sense of security, knowing what to expect from you, and what they can rely on from you.

Consistency helps to establish healthy boundaries with your clients. 

Consistency also allows for open and honest communication, as you and your clients know what to expect from each other.

Consistency is about being congruent.

Consistency is making sure your words are backed up by your actions. When your words do not match your actions, trust becomes damaged and your clients begin to lose faith in you. 

Consistency requires being upfront. Assertive, healthy adult conversations are necessary for your client relationships to flourish. 

Upfront consistent communication prevents trust from eroding. 

As Stephen Covey said once,

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”

Consistency breeds stability in client relationships.

CONSISTENCY REQUIRES TAKING ACTION

"The path to success is to take massive, determined action."

Tony Robbins

Short-term thinking squashes long-term sustainability. 

Simply stated, a professional prepares each day with consistent action. They mentally prepare themselves with daily doses of self-reflection.

They ask of themselves:

• What actions do I need to do to achieve my goals?
• What actions and activities do I need to repeat to achieve my goals?
• What am I filling up my soul with to help me hit my goals?

Sales professionals are laser focused. They have a clear idea of what needs to happen to achieve their desired outcomes.

They understand what consistent repetitive activities they must do and then they take massive action.

What are you doing right now to take massive action?

Consistency will demand that you stay observant and present on the task at hand without losing focus. This means do not chase shiny objects.

Consistency demands of you that you're able to discipline yourself to the very moment, and only to this moment without exception.

When it comes to consistency and discipline... Right now is the only moment that matters. What are you doing right now?

The consistent actions or for that in matter inactions, will impact what happens to you months, quarters and years from now. 

CONSISTENCY... WHAT WILL YOU COMMIT TO?

Your sales life is too precious to waste. Your future rests solely in your hands. You and you alone decide what you'll focus on. 

You and you alone choose to be distracted.

You and you alone can only decide to take action.

You must hold yourself radically accountable. The hardest part of being self-disciplined is doing it every day.

You may not see immediate results but over time and with consistent action you will build the foundations of a meaningful sales life.

In a sales world where trust and credibility are anemically low, think about the following:

Consistency in your character develops integrity.

Consistency in your attitude creates trust.

Consistency in your self-leadership builds influence.

The choice is yours to make. So what will you choose to focus on today?

Originally Published on Larry Levine's LinkedIn.