The Art of Strategic Simplexity

Albert Einstein once said, “Things should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”. He was a genius at simplexity. He boiled the whole theory of relativity into one simple equation: E = MC².

I think we need to take this approach with strategy. Whether you are a sales rookie, a veteran, a sales manager, or a senior leader, your ability to nut out a strategy for how you are going to grow your accounts, territory, team or company and then put your strategy into action, is key to fulfilling your growth potential. Despite it's importance, Implementing Strategy (which is one of the seven core sales skills that I wrote about in last month's newsletter) is the skill that people struggle with the most.

Here's the kicker: most people don’t struggle with WHAT to do, they struggle with what NOT to do. Strategy presents so many options that many don’t know where to start. So, they don’t. Instead of being proactive and driving change, they become reactive, chasing whatever opportunities come their way, often ending up marching to the beat of someone else's strategy.

Simplifying your strategy is all about zeroing in on the few things that really matter and ignoring the rest of the noise. By breaking things down into easy-to-understand, bite-sized pieces, people spend less time spinning their wheels and more time executing their strategy and getting results. A simple strategy starts by asking some tough questions.

Here are some questions to get you started:

“If I could achieve just one thing this quarter, what would that one thing be?”

“If I could achieve just one more thing this quarter, what would the next thing be?” (Repeat this question two to three times for a maximum of five key achievements.)

For each of the achievements above:

“What is the easiest, fastest, most effective way for me to achieve this outcome?” (Think of the 80/20 rule.)

“What am I avoiding?” (These are often the actions that matter the most.)

“What do I get stuck doing that makes no difference whatsoever?” (These are the activities to eliminate from your life if you can.)

I think productivity guru David Allen (the “Getting Things Done” guy) said it best:

“You can achieve anything, but not everything.”

* Simplextity is a made up word which is a combination of complexity and simplicity.

Mark Windust is an influential Thought Leader in the areas of Sales Strategy, Sales Leadership and Sales Performance. Since launching his consulting practice in 2007, Mark has worked with 1000's of business leaders, salespeople and entrepreneurs’ to help them transform their sales results.