#MoreSalesLessTime Challenge Kickoff

Welcome to the More Sales Less Time Challenge.

I’m Jill Konrath, author of the new book with that same title—and a few others. I’m so glad you’ve joined us.

In the upcoming weeks, we are going to focus on simple strategies to help you earn more revenue without working round the clock.

Let me give you the backstory as to why I’m here. Several years ago, I was ready to say “screw it.”

I was so sick and tired of working all the time. I’d roll out of bed in the morning and within minutes, I’m doing email triage, looking for any requiring an urgent response. As soon as my “official” workday began, I’d be on the computer nonstop.

I was in-and-out of email. I’d be on LinkedIn researching and communicating with prospects. I’d be preparing for meetings, working on proposals, writing my newsletter and pulling together presentations for my clients.

I pretty much ate lunch at my desk and worked straight through—figuring it was the ONLY way I’d be able to get everything done.

In the evening, I’d be constantly checking my devices. My cell phone was practically glued to my body. And even before bed, I’d do one last email check—don’t ask me why, because I never would have responded to anyone at 11 pm.

Crazy Busy Wasn't Good

In short, I was exhausted. I was losing my oomph. And I also noticed that my thinking was deteriorating. Seriously. It was too hard to stay focused enough so I could come up with new approaches and better strategies.

I know that sounds weird, but it was actually happening. To me that’s deadly in our business environment where we—as sellers—have become the primary differentiator.

The only thing that made me feel better was that I wasn’t alone. Everyone I talked to was overwhelmed.

In fact, shortly after my book SNAP Selling came out (which is all about selling to crazy-busy buyers) people have come coming to me saying, “Jill, this book helped me tremendously. It’s working. But I’m crazy-busy too. What do you have for me?”

“Nothing,” I’d always say. “I feel the same way.”

Till one day I decided I was sick of it all. Something had to change. That’s when I threw myself into studying “overwhelm” with a vengeance.

I studied neuroscience to learn how our brain works. I immersed myself into cognitive science to find out how my way of working was impacting my thinking. I studied psychology, productivity, motivation and more.

What I learned, amazed me.

To sum it up, HOW I was working was actually the root cause of all my problems.

I’d always been reasonably productive, but over the course of the past few years, I’d developed habits that were working against me.

And I also learned that all my best efforts to keep up with my ever-increasing workload were actually making things worse.

Like I said, it was an eye-opener. I was working too darn hard. If you’re human—which I suspect you are—you’re probably doing the same thing.

Imagine, we’re working too darn hard.

So, in the upcoming days, I’d like to take you on a journey of experimentation. To help identify ways that you’re working that are actually causing your overwhelm. My goal in this mini-program is to wake you up to what’s really possible.

I’ll be sharing insights from scientists who are smarter than me! And then, I’m going to challenge you to try doing something different for each day—a strategy that, if it became part of your regular way of working—could help you make more sales in less time.

I hope you’ll join me! This is going to be fun!

P.S. Watch for the first challenge in the upcoming days. It'll test you. I'll be posting it here.

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Jill Konrath is the bestselling author of four sales books: More Sales, Less Time; Agile Selling, Selling to Big Companies and SNAP Selling. She's a frequent speaker at sales meetings and conferences. Check out the tons of free sales resources on her website:www.jillkonrath.com/sales-resources.