Murphy's Law: The Will to Win Does Not Really Mean Much
Murphy's Law: The Will to Win Does Not Really Mean Much
Everyone wants to win when game day comes. The will to win is nothing without the will to train. That was the theme for my cross country team when I coached high school sports ten years ago. Without the desire and motivation to do the right things every day in training, the will to win on game day will not be enough to get you across the line first.
It’s the same in our labs. Wanting to hit an annual or even monthly target means nothing without the will to do the right things on a day-to-day, case-to-case basis. The will to train well sets us up to win at the end of the month and the year. So ask yourself:
- What daily behaviors will help us meet our monthly and annual goals?
- What metrics should we track?
- How do we know when we are doing well?
Answering and executing these questions will trump desire to succeed every time. You can’t play catch up on the 29th of the month with incredible will to succeed. You have to pay the price every day and then celebrate at month’s end.
If you want to improve results remember behavior drives results and hanging behavior changes results.
Consider three new metrics and related behavioral changes:
Monthly Change Report
Compares the net change in the most recent month to the previous rolling three or four month average. This lets you catch falling revenue accounts before they completely leave and you still have a chance to save them. Don’t call them all, just the ones you know are at risk. The most fun is calling accounts that are way up (50 percent or more) and celebrate with them that you noticed and appreciate their business (see funktionalconsulting.com for discussion and report examples).
Sales by Doctor by Product Report
That way you know for sure who is using you for only one or two of your products or services. This gives you a chance to have a discussion and perhaps capture more of their work. The average dentist uses three labs. They likely have some breakdown of anterior, posterior, implants and removables. According to a recent ADA survey, 12.5 percent of dentists use five or more dental labs. There has to be an advantage to concentrating their business with fewer labs.
Net Promoter Scores
OK, this one is tougher and less frequent. The most reliable metric for tracking your future growth and success is the likelihood that a current client will refer a friend. If you survey clients and ask how likely they are to refer a friend or colleague and do some simple calculations with the results, you will have a very robust metric. Search for net promoters score on the web or read the articles on my website for more information.
What gets measured can be managed. Measuring and monitoring the right things helps us be more focused and successful. Just like taking times on my runners, charting their progress and prescribing workouts to help them advance towards SMART goals day in and day out gives them the certainty of success on game day, so to can you track the right stuff. Day by day, week by week and month by month. Year ends seem to sneak up on us, the will to win won’t mean much if we have not done our work all year long.
