We Are What We Eat

In my last blog posting I talked about reasons for sales activity being below our potential.

We Are What We Eat. That is what my mother always told me. This concept was recalled recently when I saw this cartoon.

After a two year visit to the United States, Michelangelo's David is returning to Italy ......




His Proud Sponsors were:



Not only did I get a chuckle out this cartoon but it got me thinking about how we become (professionally) what we spend our time doing.

Again, I return to my pet topic of “the Black Hole”. The Black Hole can be operations – being pulled into the office to work on operationally oriented issues. Are they important? Absolutely! Can these issues be resolved in other ways? Most likely.

Black Holes are administrative sales and marketing tasks. Are these important? Again, absolutely! Can these types of activities be managed differently? Most likely.

Black Holes are also ineffective sales and marketing activities. Splashing in the water is often mistaken for swimming. Sales activity that is simply about being in the field and working is not necessarily effective selling that will result in winning business. These types of Black Holes are the most deceptive of all Black Holes because they give the illusion of the doing the right things but in reality are just the opposite.

Are you already in or slowly being dragged into a Black Hole? If you have major responsibility for generating sales, ask yourself what percentage of your time was actually devoted to sales related activities vs. administration, operations and miscellaneous activities?

Can this situation be remedied? Absolutely? How? Check out my next blog posting to learn about how to get and stay out of the Black Hole.