The Blatant Truth Weblog

Ya Gotta Be In It To Win It

Ya gotta be in it to win it.  What a cliché. Shouted from the bleachers by over zealous parents watching their kid’s team play in a unspirited manner.

Spoken by parents when they are told that their kids don’t participate in class.

Chided by managers when their sales reps seem to be moving through their days in a sluggish and despondent manner.

Cliché, yes.

But true too.

The impetus for this post came from a recent activity in which I sorted through some of the scores of follow-up emails that I have sent to networking contacts, as well as to folks to whom I have been introduced over the last 6 months.  A review of my phone outreach was also conducted.

My process:  Sort out the contacts, screen, qualify, categorize, follow up, follow-through and use the three I’s to stay on the grid (invitations, introductions, information).

Yep. Did that.

And now as I go back through my follow-up emails and attempts to connect, I see how many people are just not “in it”. Whether there is no response to a call or an email or even to an invitation, there seem to be so many people that just aren’t playing the game. Or at least playing to win it.

And so really, why do they bother going to events, belonging to groups and participating in all of the time consuming business development activities that suck away time each and every week.

I mean, why bother if they’re not going to follow up, follow through, screen, qualify, categorize and heck…stay in touch.

Are other people thinking that about you? Time to get in it or just stop wasting your time.