For Granted's Sake

Here's one of my biggest weaknesses...........I take things for granted.  This is true for me in all aspects of life.  I tend to either:  Identify, accomplish, move on............or Identify, delegate, forget.  Both pose a problem in the long run.

Where's my follow up?  In sales specifically, without following up, I'm negelecting one of the easiest controllable factors in gaining an edge.  When I accomplish the task I move on, usually don't give it a second thought, but even when I do..........I rarely do anything about it.  I convinced myself a few years ago that "no news is good news," but I now know that's incorrect and was simply and easy way to justify my own lack of follow up.

When I delegate, my removal from the task magnifies.  I take for granted that the task is going to be accomplished to everyone's satisfaction.  My justification that "no news is good news" is now once removed, and I even convince myself that others are following up.

I am now on a mission to change this.  Not because I've recently been burned by not following up, or because my team is not satisfying every request............but because I can't continue to take things for granted.  I always talk about follow up, it's importance, and it's impact.  The fact that it's in our control and there's no reason to not use it as a key weapon in our arsenal.

I've caught myself not practicing what I preach, and that's reason enough to change.  So, I'll need to change my system of saving/deleting/red-flagging emails and voicemails........obviously my current system needs to be tweeked.  No more taking for granted, it does the same as assuming.  We'll see how this goes, I'll report back (or you can report for me).

**  Latest celebrity spotting was Mike Modano, sitting near me on a flight last week.