Dare To Prepare...

When we are stressed, under constant pressure to meet deadlines or targets, chances are we are failing to prepare effectively...

And in this state, our results will always correlate with our lack of preparation.

If it’s not worth preparing for, why do it at all?

The old adage, perfect preparation makes for perfect performance is accurate.

How you prepare for each project or pitch will largely determine the goals you and your team set out to achieve.

Let’s be honest, admitting that your business is really not too dissimilar to most of your competitors is confronting.

One, often overlooked strategic area in which we can differentiate ourselves and move ahead of the other players, is in how much time and thought we invest into what we do.

Through well thought-out and habitual preparation, you can edge ahead of the pack by showing your customers just how much you care about creating the right outcomes for them.

You also demonstrate that you take your time and theirs seriously.

Knowing your strengths and limitations is a key step in your preparation process.

How you prepare yourself for each new business pitch, particularly when you are up against a worthy foe, will come down to how successfully you position your strengths in the mind of your client, and in a way that counteracts and overcomes your competitors.

You must prepare diligently because the seasoned high-performer knows just how strenuous carry a sack loaded full with rejection and set backs over mountainous terrain every day can be. In many cases less is more, but when it comes to preparation more is more.

Businesspeople often prepare ineffectively because they are time poor. In doing so they are erroneously judging their preparation time to be a luxury, preferring instead to hope for the best and wing it.

A lack of preparation will breed incompetence. Similarly, a lack of preparation diminishes your credibility with peers and customers, and reduces your ability to execute at the highest level.

If you’re stuck in a creative rut because you have been in the same role for too long, the best way forward is to keep pushing the boundaries for ways to improve, challenge and change things up.

This is where preparation comes in.

You need to rethink what you’re doing and come up with ways of seeing things from a fresh perspective and reframing old views into new and compelling strategies for your customers.

You can only achieve this by taking time out habitually and working on how your business or the entire industry can change and adapt or improve.

This is an excerpt from my second book Outlaw: Fight for your customers.

Giddy up!

Your partner in growth,

Trent Leyshan - Founder, BOOM!