Get out of Your Comfort Zone--SHAKE Things Up!

There comes a time in every sale professional’s life that they get into cruise control. They simply get into a mode of operation that finds them grinding through the same activities day in and day out. This may be something that they have gotten into consciously or on purpose but more often it is a state at which they have arrived quite by accident.

There are several reasons that one gets into this Comfort Zone. Maybe they are happy where they are. (Or at least that is what they say) Maybe they have too much going on to even think about trying something new. (Or at least that’s what they think) Maybe they are coming off a great sales month and have decided to “take a breather” to enjoy their success. (This is a killer!) Perhaps they have fallen into a routine of “meeting management’s minimum activity requirements. (“Hey, I made my calls and filed my reports!”) Perhaps they feel that trying something new will increase their chances of failure and will cause more work for them. Maybe they are too busy taking care of customers to Maybe they are simply tired, lazy, or misdirected.

Whatever the reason, or excuse, the dreaded Comfort Zone is a dangerous place for a sale professional to be. It is a place where Maintenance is the goal and Growth is the stranger. It is the place where Goals have been forgotten and Dreams have been eroded. There is no place for a growth oriented sales professional to be!

Is a Comfort Zone a bad thing? I guess that depends upon who you are and what it is that you want out of your career and your life. Most people get into the profession of selling based upon an earning potential that is sometimes without limitations. The top performers among all sales professionals in the marketplace today are consistently looking for ways to improve and grow their results. And even they can sometimes find themselves in cruise control mode! For sales professionals, this is a BAD thing!

What need to happen to SNAP out of this Comfort Zone? You need to S.H.A.K.E. things up a bit! What does S.H.A.K.E. mean?

S-Set or Revisit Your Goals for the Year
It is my belief that when a sales professional gets too comfortable with the status quo, the main reason is that they have lost sight of their goals. Each and every year it is imperative that salespeople take the time to set their goals for the upcoming year. Why? We are in a career that necessitates self discipline and committed action in many areas. Often, there is not a boss breathing down our neck or a time-clock to punch to ensure that we are “staying the course.” Therefore, we must decide what it is that we want to accomplish each year in our business and personal lives. Our goals must be clear and concise rather than wandering and vague. They must be written down and have deadlines (or lifelines-if you prefer) assigned to them.
If you find yourself working within your Comfort Zone, you need to re-visit these goals. You need to remind yourself what it is that you really want to accomplish (to GET) out of this year! There is an ancient Eastern proverb that says something like, “When one is aware of the why, they can deal with almost any of the how.” So, refocus on what you set your sights on this year so that you can get back to the business of working towards the goal instead of just working.

H-Have a Solid Game Plan
Before you go rushing off towards a new (or re-committed to) goal, you must first have a clear plan of what to do—as well as what NOT to do. Think of all of the things that need to occur in order to accomplish the goal. What needs to happen? What needs to happen this month, next month, next quarter, etc. What needs to “go on the back-burner?
Organize your list into a plan by priority and sequence. Understand that there will be obstacles. Understand that every plan will have potential unforeseen roadblocks that will come up. Try your best to identify as many of them as you can beforehand with a contingency plan to work your way through them or around them. No excuses, no blame! If there is a game plan (a track on which to run) than you have a much better shot at accomplishing what it is that you set out to do.

A-Arrive Earlier to the Game
In reading a recent article in INC. Magazine about success traits of some of the nation’s top executives, one of the common things that all of them shared was they got an early start every day. Most of them were up well before 6:00am and “in the chair” before most of their competition. In the game of life, you have very few opportunities to “gather an edge” over the competition. The competition that we are discussing in this article is the Comfort Zone—the competition for your success! Set a goal to get up 1-2 hours earlier than usual for the next 60 days. If you are normally just getting up at 7:00am, then immediately re-set your alarm clock to “join the 5 o’clock club!” The things that you can accomplish or the way that you can prepare in those “Golden 120” minutes between 5:00am and 7:00am will snap you out of your Comfort Zone and into your Action Zone! Think about all of the things you can accomplish:
-You can read the entire newspaper (or two) and enjoy your coffee while you do.
-You can get in 30-60 minutes of solid cardio exercise to “get the crud out of your veins” and get your blood pumping.
-You can write an entire chapter in your upcoming book or an article for your prospective new customer’s industry magazines.
-You can spend 10-15 minutes in preparation (doing your homework) for each today’s sales calls.
-You could prepare 20 questions for every face to face sales call that you are going on today. (Heck, you might even be able to practice them aloud!)
-You can read a book on sales, self motivation, time management, overcoming objections, price negotiation, etc.
Are you getting this yet? All of the things that you say that you never have time to do can be accomplished if you “Arrive to the Game Earlier.” So, to quote Tom Hopkins, G.O.Y.A----Get Off Your _ss, get up, and get going early.

K-Kick up Some New Activity
I am often reminded of an old commercial for Dunkin’ Donuts that highlighted the donut maker waking up every morning, day-in and day-out, with the same phrase, “Time to make the donuts…” Every day, he went about the exact same routine of waking up at the same time and mindlessly getting to work to crank out dozens and dozens of donuts. I see to many sales professionals falling into the same trap. They get up each day and mindlessly go through a set of prescribed motions designed to identify, capture and engage new customers while, at the same time taking care of existing customers. The find themselves often times in a rut. (Which has been described as a grave with the ends kicked out!)
It’s time to Kick up some new ACTIVITY. In order to get out of the Comfort Zone rut, we need to take a long hard look (hell, make it a short glance) at the myriad of things that we do each and every day and ask ourselves if each one produces the results desired. Next, we need to identify 5 NEW activities that we can begin right now that will re-ignite our creative flames, get us out into the limelight (in front of our customers), and shake things up! Here are a few examples of some ideas for you:-Start writing 5 handwritten notes every day to your existing database of customers and contacts. Coming up with creative ways to connect or to re-connect with these folks will start to get you going. Think out of the box—use a variety of notes—handwrite each one with a little personal flair (about you as well as the customer), and put a stamp on each. I guarantee that they will get opened and some will spark action on the part of your customers.
-Identify and touch (a call, a note, an article, an email, etc.) no less than 5 new prospective accounts every day for the next 60 days. Putting out about 200 touches is bound to stir up some action.
-Attend a few networking functions with a game plan that you follow to the tee. This game plan should be designed for you to connect with and meet no less than 10 people per event that can either buy from you or influence a buying decision in your favor.
-Write 3 articles to submit to the industry magazines that your customers read. Hint: Make the articles about their world and not yours. The trick is to become visible to your marketplace.
-Call three current customers every day for the next 3 weeks and ask them for referrals. Hint: Have a solid plan for this---you need to earn referrals. How can you earn them before you make the call?Are you starting to get the picture? Action begets Action! Doing the same thing every day and expecting different results is what Einstein called INSANITY!

E-Enjoy the Results of Your Work!
When all is said and done; when you have recommitted to your goals for the year, built and taken action on a solid plan to accomplish those goals, gotten into the habit of arriving earlier to the game, and kicked up some new focused activity, the results will be apparent! It is very important to celebrate your re-birth to the land of the committed. It is paramount to enjoy the fruits of your re-found effort. Enjoy, this is a game. This is a journey. As I said however, it is you who draws the map for the journey. If you know the destination and can lay out a route to get there, you will have a much better shot of changing course when you take the occasional exit on the Comfort Zone freeway.


The choice is and will always be yours to make. It’s easy to coast, to cruise, and to remain where there is little risk. It’s easy to take the path of least resistance and stay where you know what you know. However, this path will often not get you what you really want. It may occasionally give you a taste of what you want, but if you are focused on what you really want, and are willing to stay focused, you can get what you really want!

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

The next time that you find yourself staying too long inside your Comfort Zone, understand that you are not working up to your potential. Your ability to unleash your potential is determined by your willingness to S.H.A.K.E. things up! Now go get shakin’!