When I mention spying – I really mean observation with ‘sometimes without’ other people’s knowledge. When they know, I’m observing – When they don’t know, I’m spying. Which is which? Doesn’t matter: here are the situations and lessons:

>> Road To Income Tax Department…

Filing for income tax is due today. As I was coming back to the office, I notice rows and rows of cars around my office area – they are honking each other, they park by the road, they jam up the road, etc. You see, my office is very near the income tax department. As I’m returning to the office I realize something – these people are filing their taxes at the VERY last minute, the due date. I suddenly had a thought of salespeople…

…AND that inspired me to write this issue of Sales Ninja Killer Newsletter. Well, writers need the inspiration to write else we get what we call ‘the writer’s block’. Er….. Hm…..

Ok – writer’s block is over, I have my thoughts back – so let’s continue…

Salespeople normally start their month slowly. Because they think there is a long way to go before the month ends and they still have time to get the sale in. It’s the sense of urgency and commitment that is lacking.

John Kotter, a big time Harvard professor on leadership wrote a new book – (a sense of urgency). A quote from this book says “True urgency is a gut-level determination to move and win, now.”

Psychologically I’ve learned people like to do things at the very last minute because accomplishing the task last minute, it gives them a sense of achievement that they have conquered a tough situation and that makes them feel good.

If the ‘last-minute’ or ‘later…’ syndrome is the culture of your organization or sales team, nothing gets done!

I gave a speech to a group of designers at KL design week a few months back, one of the key things I talked about is the DO – DOING – DONE concept.

We all have a lot of things to DO, and we are also DOING a lot of things *but* how many of those things are DONE?

A lot of people want to DO so many things they get themselves into a situation of ‘busy-ness’ or ‘DOING-ness’ but nothing gets DONE. I strongly believe the ability to get things DONE is crucial to success. Not the number of items in the to-DO list. Not the number of items in the DOING list. But how many things the checked off the list – the DONE list.

As a leader, we ask our staffs, “Is it DONE?”, “Oh Boss, still DOING, coz I have lots of things to DO.” == sounds familiar? And this DOING-ness becomes an excuse for not getting things DONE. I think it’s all a matter of (Sales Ninja Code) commitment. (other codes: abundance, courage, contribution, duty, focus, honor, honesty, trust, improvement). A committed person has a sense of urgency in everything they do and they get things DONE.

Another quote from Kotter from his book sense of urgency “They come to work each day determined to achieve something important, and they shed irrelevant activities to move faster and smarter. Those with a sense of true urgency are the opposite of complacent—but they are not stressed-out, anxious, generating great activity without much productivity. Instead, they are moving boldly toward the future—sharply on the lookout for both hazards and opportunities that change brings.”

Lesson :::: Don’t wait until the last minute to get things DONE. Commit. Commit. Commit to get things DONE immediately.

P.S: got an email a few weeks back regarding ‘please edit your grammar’. I don’t edit my newsletter – I write and I send. If I’m writing to win a Pulitzer… or is it Pulitzer (see I don’t use spell check too) – then I’ll edit every single word. This is not my book – which I do use a professional editor. This newsletter is my sharing, so you get … or === or :::: or >> where English teachers will spank me with their rulers. That’s just how cyber writing works. I also use smiley’s… =)

>> Next issue: what two (UNEDUCATED) men taught me about NEED CREATION… lookout for it…

Note: I wrote about mindset & strategy for selling in tough times in the April & May issue of SME Magazine, grab a copy. I also wrote in Malaysian Business May 1-15 issue on selling to men vs women, grab a copy too.

Meantime to more sales … with less effort! Cheers!

UNCONVENTIONALLY,
HANZO NG
Sales Ninja Grandmaster

// HOT lessons from NINJA SPYING situations – (observation) of my daily life…
// By Hanzo Ng, Sales Ninja Grandmaster

Hanzo Ng is Sales Ninja Grandmaster, lingo for Chief Trainer of Sales Ninja Training, Asia’s #1 Unconventional Sales Training. Sales Ninja Training specializes in helping small-medium, listed and global companies transform their salespeople into the ultimate sales professional known as Sales Ninja. For more information on our sales, motivation, and leadership training, visit our website.

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