This past week has been fairly hectic. I'm just getting things going in the new town. (Did I tell you that I'm getting back into sales in a new area?) Anyway, all week I've been FSBO hunting, which means a lot of driving. When I get back to my office (finally), I have to reply to emails, begin mailing to the FSBOs I found that day, and map out the next day's area to prospect. My days are ending later and later, and I haven't even started with appointments yet (my first one is tomorrow, after three days of prospecting - woohoo). I'm feeling pretty good about my efforts so far, but now comes the struggle to maintain balance. I'm falling out by 9 PM each night, which is a rare thing for me. I'm usually up until 1 AM or later. I'm definitely starting to "feel the burn" now. After several days of prospecting, a little devil appeared on my shoulder and said that I'd prospected enough for the week, to call it quits and go home for some much needed rest. The devil rationalized it all by saying that I'd already generated half of my targeted number of monthly FSBOs in just three days, so getting the other half could wait. I was almost there.
Then that phrase just popped in my head - almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. This was something I heard many times from my grandfather (Pop) when I was growing up. Anytime I'd say I'd almost [fill in the blank here - finished cleaning my room, finished my homework, finished my supper, whatever], he'd follow-up with that remark. Now, many years later, I'm still hearing this in my head. Fortunately for me, it counts way more now than it did then.
Now, I can't tell you how this is all going to turn out. I know my goals. I know the numbers I must hit. I don't yet know my conversion rates for this new area, so we'll have to wait and see about that. The one thing I do know, you can't let yourself off the hook, not even for a second. You can't let yourself settle. You can't give yourself an out. If you fall short one day or month, double-up the next. That's all there is to it. In this game, almost just doesn't count.
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