Email: laura@416Sales.com

Think Small To Win: The Long Game

Why The Long Game Changes Everything

The Trap of Thinking Big

When most people think about growing a business, they think big. A big launch. A big campaign. A big year. But businesses that actually last are built by people who understand something different: it's the small things, done consistently over time, that create the conditions for the big things to happen.

Having dreams and big goals is good. Keep in mind, it takes time to get there. No matter where you are in your business, it’s good to pick a goal that motivates you enough to keep working at it. It’s good to break the big goal into achievable steps so the likelihood of getting there is a logical progression of successes along the way.

Thinking Small in The Long Game

Thinking small doesn't mean insignificant. Small means doable today, and doable again tomorrow. A small step leads to a small win that can open a door to the next one and then the next one. Thinking small can help with motivation because each small thing can spark a feeling of accomplishment that builds growth.

A few years back, I took a productivity class that taught a number of hacks to get more done and tackle larger projects effectively. One technique had to do with reverse engineering a project from the end date of completion. The project was divided into categories. Then each category was broken down into steps with more detail shown in each one. Then scheduling was mapped out so the project could be completed on time.

Every piece of consistent daily work, a post, a follow-up, an updated page on your website, a helpful comment in an online forum, is a small brick. On its own, it doesn't look like much. Stacked over weeks and months, it becomes the branding people experience and learn to count on when they think about buying something from your business. The goal isn't to do more. It's to keep doing the right small things long enough that they compound.

How This Shows Up Today

Sales used to mean a conversation between two people. It still does, but it's no longer where sales begins.

Today, someone forms an opinion about you and your business long before you ever talk to them. They may see your website. They see how you show up on LinkedIn, TikTok, or Facebook. They see what comes up when they search for the service you offer. All of that is part of your digital footprint that gives customers an understanding of what your business is about and how you take care of people. Your brand is built with small, intentional, consistent pieces that build your impression over time.

What that can look like depends on what will be of interest to your customers. For 416 Sales, it started with showing up at a networking group. Then I started doing a weekly blog that was also used for a Google Business post, a Facebook post and a LinkedIn post. Then, when I wrote Sales Without Being Pushy, it was revising the website, creating new branded banners for my social media pages, creating video shorts with a question and answer format.

The small things you do today, whether anyone notices in the moment or not, are what someone finds later when they're deciding whether to trust you enough to reach out.

Why This Is at the Core of a Sales Approach

Your sales approach should reflect what your business is about and who you are in business to serve. What do you provide that your customers need? How often do they need what you offer? What makes your business the right choice for your ideal customer?

Once you answer those questions, the small, consistent work stops feeling scattered. It becomes intentional, each piece building toward the bigger goal instead of existing on its own. When you are clear on what your business is about and do the small things that are consistent with your primary purpose, people will get it and then they can buy it.

How to Think of the Small Things in Sales

One way to look at sales is how you would treat guests coming to your house. Most people clean before having someone over. They decide what they will serve, what they will do, and how long the guest will stay. There is a purpose for them being there and the activities planned during the occasion achieve an outcome that started with an idea.

For sales, think about what you have planned for your customers. The customer journey or customer experience is in every place someone might come across your business. Being intentional with your business’s presence, whether it’s online or offline, matters in the details. Your voice and your messaging have to match everywhere.

How a Sales System Helps With Customer Experience

Setting up systems and processes make it easier to manage customer expectations so customers learn what to expect. A sales system gives you a way to map out what clients will experience buying from your business so bringing on new customers feels natural to you and to them. It’s a process of understanding what you can solve for them and if it’s the right fit.

If you have taken things from sales training and sales books, it would be good to put them into a repeatable process so you can present a consistent customer experience for people looking at your products or services. The most important thing is to make sure whatever process you’re using feels natural to you. It helps if you can write your own system based on your experiences, your values, and how you want to do business.

Want to Write Your Own Sales System?

I put together a sales workbook called, Sales Without Being Pushy. It’s available on Amazon. It’s designed to guide you through writing your own sales system so selling is more enjoyable. There are 9 sections. Each section has a story, a sales lesson, a principle, and simple exercises. Each section creates one piece of your system. At the end, you put it all together.

It’s based on my approach to sales, which didn’t come from sales training. I was a top-performing sales closer for over 14 years selling internet marketing services. Each section shares a story from my life of where I developed my approach for sales. What I learned flying airplanes, getting my degree in Political Science, recovering from a life changing injury, and being certified in basic mediation, among other things, all gave me a mentality that was very much me being me doing sales.

If you want to read through some of the sales workbook and try the first exercise in Sales Without Being Pushy: Write a Simple Sales System You Will Actually Use, there's a free sample available under the thumbnail cover on Amazon. It's a good first look to see if this type of workbook would be awesome for you or not. Check out the workbook on Amazon

Your Next Small Step

Hopefully, this has given you some ideas to think about. So your next step is to take one of those ideas and put it into action. Whether it’s writing a new weekly blog or updating your branding across your public facing account, think small. Make it easy and make it fun.