Momentum 2013: Reinvent or Reinvigorate
As usual, we enjoyed my Super Bowl/birthday party at my sister’s house. Of course, I couldn’t help taking several notes during the game. Baltimore had a commanding lead—28 to 6—when the lights went out in the stadium. 34 energy-draining minutes passed. When the game resumed, the momentum changed. The 49ers came roaring back, much to my delight, and almost won the game. The dictionary definition of “momentum” is a driving force or impetus. The concept is that a moving body that keeps moving tends to maintain velocity and overcome resistance. In other words, one move forward will motivate another move forward with even more force, or, nothing succeeds like success.
Momentum surely played a role to make the Super Bowl competitive. How can WE use momentum to have our business “come back” and win for us? To maintain velocity and overcome resistance, we may have to reinvent OR reinvigorate ourselves. During the last couple of years, I toyed with the idea of reinvention: going back into Human Resources. Then I remembered Will Smith said, “I don’t have a Plan B—it distracts me from Plan A.” Great! I took it to heart, and decided to reinvigorate. I bore down on Plan A, and made lots of speeches and speech coaching happen. I never gave up; neither did either team in the Super Bowl. For me, and perhaps for you, not giving up means make the marketing calls, go to networking meetings and FOLLOW UP (takes discipline) and do a SUPER job every time (more discipline: prepare).
To maintain momentum and keep your winning streak going, do these two things:
1. Stay IN TOUCH with the clients who made you successful. Reach out to them at least once a month to give them something useful to solve their problems. BE PANDORA: get to know their needs and wants so well that you can recommend other products and services they may like.
2. Keep your employees MOTIVATED! You are totally responsible for the top two motivators: full appreciation of work done, and keeping them “in” on things. If you fail to do these two things, you are in danger of losing, as we say in football, your Impact Players.
Find out more about how to succeed in 2013—here’s my most recent fun 3-minute interview.