Closing the Hustle Gap

Things may come to those who wait, but only those things left by those who hustle.
–Abraham Lincoln

Time isn’t on your side. The results you need aren’t going to produce themselves. Your dream client opportunity isn’t going to walk itself in. While you are sleeping, someone who is willing to outwork you is outselling you.

The great game of sales is all about hustle. You have to close the hustle gap.

Action, Action, Always Action

Closing the hustle gap means taking action. Those with the hustle have the self-discipline that drives them to act, even when there is no deadline, even when the activity that that they need to take isn’t necessarily easy. Think: prospecting.

Those with the hustle pick up the phone with no reluctance, even when their pipeline indicates that they are going to exceed their goals for the quarter. They invest in nurturing their dream clients by relentlessly calling on them, by sharing value-creating ideas, and by opening relationships.

They ask for the commitments that they need to move their opportunities forward.

Their dream clients know that all of that hustle is going to be applied to helping them produce better results. They love initiative.

To hustle, you have to keep the commitments that you make to yourself. You have to move from one action to the next action, over and over again, without fail, and without procrastinating.

The hustle isn’t made up of words; it’s made of action. Action helps to close the hustle gap.

Taking the Right Actions

Those that hustle don’t waste time on activities that don’t produce results. They don’t waste their most limited and most precious resource.

If you have ever known someone that really possesses the hustle, you will have noticed that they eliminate a lot of time-wasters. When they get down to business, they’re all business.

They find a way to discover the actions that produce outsized results, and they hammer away at taking those actions. They eliminate actions that don’t produce results.

They don’t spend time surfing the Internet, they don’t spend time reading inane emails, and they don’t spend a lot of time chatting at the water cooler. They aren’t distracted by the novelties that distract their peers and their competitors.

To hustle, you have to identify the actions that produce the results that you want and take those actions. You have to eliminate actions and activities that don’t produce results.

That’s part of what it takes to close the hustle gap.

Become a Student of the Game

Those with the hustle are students of the game. They don’t only hustle when taking action; they immerse themselves in the game.

In sales, they study sales, selling, business, personal effectiveness, and leadership. While their competitors are watching television, they’re immersed. They also spend time learning their dream clients business, learning the general principles and their vocabulary. They look for ways that they can make a difference.

To hustle, you have to learn the game. You have to have the business acumen and knowledge that makes you valuable to your company and your dream clients.

Know-how is part of hustle.

Mindset: No Bitching or Moaning

Those with the hustle have strong and healthy beliefs. When there are obstacles to their success, they draw upon their resourcefulness to overcome them; they find a way or they make one. They don’t sit around complaining, and they don’t commiserate with the negative salespeople who believe that external forces are what really shape their destiny and determine their results.

Those with the hustle know that their beliefs and their actions are the greatest determining factors when it comes to their sales results.

Those with the hustle have the hustler’s mindset. That’s what it takes to close the gap.

Questions

What do the people that hustle do different from those who don’t hustle?

How important is a sense of urgency, a sense of purpose, and a sense of mission to driving activity?

What motivates you to act?

What do you to keep the commitments that you make to yourself?

How do you close the hustle gap?