My 100-Day Challenge!

My 100-Day Challenge!

By May of this year, one of our major clients hadn’t paid us for 2 months work, and then the news broke that its European arm had filed for insolvency. At that point, we had several projects ongoing and we were told we would be paid, so based on good faith we worked until the end of May, at which point our total outstanding balance was just under £40,000.

I have my goals, dreams, and ambitions, and I wasn’t going to let a client’s insolvency, or a pandemic stop me from achieving them! I hadn’t come this far to only come this far! Therefore, in the middle of May, based on the awful news from our client, I made a decision which was going to have an impact on my personal life but would hopefully help safeguard the immediate future of my business. I had decided to go for my 100-Day Challenge – for 100 days, I would be doing business development every single day, without fail, including weekends, no excuses. Truth be told, I had no other choice. Getting angry and worrying about the £40,000 wasn’t going to help me. As I’ve said in my vlogs and blogs before when faced with a problem, I look for solutions – and this was my solution, working my arse off to protect my business and keep dreams alive! To add to my woes, we were in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic meaning business was slow, and our business development manager had to go on furlough because he has 2 very young children.

I knew that if it was to be, it was up to me! I had to quickly get used to working long days during the week which involved projects, meetings, teamwork, running my business, and business development, and making the choice, not a sacrifice, of working weekends. Although some weekends would be full working days, I did make sure that after a month or so, I would work for only half the day – the house chores and shopping weren’t going to do themselves, and we were in lockdown, so I hardly had a choice of places to go to anyway! But, I had my focus and goals, this was me fighting hard for the survival of my business, and I wasn’t going to give up without a fight; it’s not in my nature to take any shit lying down! So, with my head up, eyes forward, and laser-focused on my short, medium- and long-term goals, I got going.

It’s been tough, most people didn’t reply, and I received many “no’s”, which I expected – I feel it’s better to receive a “no” rather than no reply because at least I’ve been acknowledged! Nevertheless, I persevered and with some luck, and help, my business is in a much healthier position now than it was 100 days ago! Nothing is a given, and although we have picked up some good new clients, and projects with existing clients, I know that had I not put in the effort from over 3 months ago, and actually told people about our situation, I wouldn’t have had any luck or help; I wasn’t going to let the silliness of pride get the better of me. I also believe in the “Law of Attraction”, you can call it prayer, belief, whatever you want, but if you want something from God, or the universe, or wherever, then it’s a simple 3-step process of “Ask, Believe, and Receive”, and I am happy and grateful to have asked, believed, and be receiving.

Talking about luck, I try to be a responsible business owner. I don’t take silly money out of my businesses and I had built enough capital in the bank to pay my staff for up to a year in the event of no work coming in. I think that’s common sense and smart, to run a business with some sort of slush fund to ride through rough times. It’s not easy finding good staff, so if your business or industry goes through a tough time, you want to be able to retain your team because if you put the effort in, better times will return and your staff will be there to spring back into action, as has happened with us.

From just over 3 months ago where I wondered, momentarily, about what was going to happen to my business, to now, where I’m hiring new staff, it is a 180° change! If you are going through a tough time, my simple advice is this: focus on your goals, get your head down, and do WHATEVER IT TAKES to keep your business going because that could be the difference between your success and failure!

I know I couldn’t have got to where I am without a strong mentality and serious tenacity, traits which I have been forging throughout my life. I also know I couldn’t have done it without help from my wonderful friends. No one gets anywhere alone, no one is self-made, everyone is part of a bigger team. As the gestalt theory goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and I am just a lone medical writer without my amazing employees and set of friends who help and inspire me.

So, to Lesley Taylor and Tim Hardman, thank you for being there for me and for helping me; you are true friends and I hope I can return your incredible favours one day!

Sales!

If you are earning money, be it from your job or your business, you are in sales! Some people hate sales but we all sell! Ourselves, our services and our products! In the end, the type of selling you want to engage in is one that pays you!

Since getting into business for myself, I have put myself in a position of having to sell. I have had some awesome days and some not so awesome ones, meaning that the results were dependent on my form on the day and some luck with the client being in the market for what I had to offer. Basically, the results weren’t duplicable or repeatable because I didn’t have a defined process in place, i.e. a system.

However, that changed recently when I finally got my hands on a copy of a sales book written by my friend Alistaire Jama, called “Sellology”. I was going to buy some sales books a couple of years ago, until Ali, a highly successful salesman, told us that he was writing a book! Now, I have been in some of his workshops so I was confident that the book would be good, so, I waited for it… and boy was it worth that wait! I read it in 4 hours, on the 2-hour train down to and up from London, and called him from both directions with questions because I was hooked! As soon as I got home, I studied the book, made notes and came up with my own sales scripts based on what Ali wrote in his book, and the results were instantaneous! I began getting more meetings than ever, using old school cold calling over the phone, email, and new school social media! Ali keep this book very simple, and clearly, one is meant to flick back and forth between the chapters, so this quickly becomes your “go-to” manual on “how to sell”!

Ali talks about communication in terms:

  • Words – what you say
  • Music – the tone in which you say them
  • Dance – the body language

Ali dedicates a chapter of being aware of different business styles and how they communicate (words, music and dance):

  • Actor – aka The Player
  • Doer – aka The Pragmatist
  • Friend – aka The Companion
  • Thinker – aka The Analyst

Ali then breaks down his sales system into 6 simple steps he calls “PROCES”:

  • Plan
  • Reach
  • Obtain
  • Connect
  • Elaborate
  • Secure

The book is 180 pages and easy to read, but oh so effective! If you read, understand and apply what Ali teaches, then you should see an improvement in your number of conversions for telephone or face to face meetings, and closing business deals!

Let me know how you get on! If you have any questions, do get in touch with Ali Jama! And as promised, here is the link to where you can buy the book on Amazon!