My friend and colleague, Adam Urbanski, The Millionaire Marketing Mentor®, is known to say: “If it’s worth doing… It’s worth doing poorly….”
Huh?
Do something poorly? Why would anyone want to do something poorly? Isn’t the idea to do things well?
The most important part of Adam’s statement, however, is not the word, “poorly,” it’s the verb, “doing.”
The full quote is:
“If it’s worth doing… It’s worth doing poorly… to start with.”
Too many business owners, entrepreneurs and sales professionals get hung up on getting everything perfect and so, when it comes to selling they never quite get around to the “doing” part.
And, by the way, I understand this. My first career was as a ballet dancer. There are few human beings more obsessed with achieving perfection than those in the ballet world. That said, in my business life I did finally learn to let go of striving for perfection and to focus more on the doing. This is what I mean:
Your website does not need to be perfect before you start calling prospects. Your company brochure does not need to be perfect before you start speaking with potential new customers. Your logo does not need to be amazing before you start engaging with potential new clients. Newsflash: your product or service does not even have to be fully realized before you sell it. Many marketers (The Queen among them) sell first and then create the product or service. (If you’ve already sold it you know there’s a market.)
If you think that no one will buy from you because of some teeny tiny, little flaw in whatever it is you’re selling and that you cannot possibly start contacting prospective new customers until that teeny tiny, little flaw is fixed… You are suffering from prospecting paralysis.
Nothing happens until you sell something. That’s the “doing.” Taking action is almost always better than not taking action. You start at the beginning not at the end. Once you take action, however, even if your results are not exactly what you would have hoped for at least you’ve started. You can then go back and course correct.
Let’s face it, even if you manage to create the perfect website or company brochure or logo… When you’re looking for perfection there will always be something else to come along and… not be perfect thus delaying your ability to sell. “If it’s worth doing… It’s worth doing poorly… to start with.” So what are you waiting for? Get started.
