Impeccable Timing is a Fools Errand
‘Impeccable Timing’ is overrated.
I heard that phrase in a recent call. Admittedly, I was pumped. That is a class-A buying signal.
Upon further reflection, I believe good timing is mostly luck. But then again, no chance exists if I didn’t make that call.
In the previous 20 calls, I sorely needed impeccable timing. I had some excellent conversations, but the timing was nothing special.
I mean, it is December. A period when most folks are grinding out remaining todos and calling it in the last couple of weeks. Or pushing meetings to January. It is hard balancing work and the holiday schedule. It is easy to tell yourself that nothing more can be done this year.
Timing, in this context, is an outcome of an action. I built a hypothesis about a prospect’s pain point and got it right. I would love to have a crystal ball and be able to tell you I have a surefire way of when to reach out to an individual prospect, but I have no clue. In the above example, I initially reached out on the weekend.
Now some data-driven models and heuristics inform you on the best times to post, send an email, work out, eat, etc. But at the local or individual level, it is better to do something now than to wait for perfect timing. Even if your timing sucks, you can always follow up.
I love to procrastinate with the best of them. And we all know people waiting for the perfect timing to do X, Y, or Z. Personally, I’ve been waiting for the ideal timing for resod my backyard for a year. The timing excuse is codified procrastination.
So here is where I land, action is greater than timing. Your effort is a controllable variable, while timing is mainly uncontrollable, especially when discussing business development.
And if you think about it, December is the best month for action. Because if you do meet someone who is overly excited about your product/services in December when they dream of hitting the OOO button. Then this prospect genuinely requires your help, and you are in a fantastic position to see 12 months of recurring revenue.
With that, it is December 7th. Challenge yourself to go get it these last couple of weeks and allow your impeccable timing to shine through.
#businessdevelopement #sales #strategy #timing
