Miss one, but not two
Team Letter | May 30, 2023
May 30, 2023
Happy Tuesday, Team Alpaca!
You may have noticed that last week, I missed on writing and sending the team letter. I’m not even quite sure why. Maybe because I’d had a long weekend with the kids. Maybe Monday morning had a lot going on (it did). Maybe I couldn’t think of what I wanted to say. Anyway, it didn’t get done. It bugged me all week. This weekend, I recalled a great piece of advice that I’ve gotten about trying to create good habits: miss one, but not two.
The idea is simple: If you’re doing something consistently and you miss a day/week/ workout/whatever, make it your mission to not miss two in a row. We can come back from one day missed, but two starts us down a slippery slope and starts to create a new habit, of NOT doing that thing.
It made me think a lot about what our company needs the most here at the end of May. I think at this moment, consistency is key at Alpaca. Right now, we’re trying to add as many school districts as possible. We’re sending out a lot of Super Packs and handwritten letters, and we’re reaching out to all of these leads that are coming in. But our number is the same this week as it was last week. There, I said it! And that’s hard, I know. We all want the W here!
It is hard to keep calling superintendents, especially when we often get no answer. It is hard to keep building packs. It is hard to keep shifting around inventory and cleaning up once again. It is hard to keep writing and creating and publishing posts and sharing and resharing. If you’ve missed a day, or were just kinda “off” one day, it’s to be expected and understood. We’ve all missed a thing. But let’s miss one, but not two.
One of the easiest things to do when we aren’t seeing perfect results or instant gratification is to stop doing the thing we’re doing. But what we know is that things take longer than a week. We know that reps get results. We know that last week and this week are really different weeks for our superintendents!! School is out for Nebraska and graduation is done. They’re staring their staffing shortages in the face RIGHT now. It’s time!
So, what’s the habit at Alpaca that you know makes our company stronger? How many districts should we be calling today? Who are the people we should be meeting with or the event we should be attending more regularly? What is the practice that keeps our information more reliable? What sales process should be more buttoned up but isn’t yet? How could we stay consistent but tweak our strategies a bit?
I’m challenging us all this week to exercise that “consistency muscle” this week. Tell us about how you’re doing it – at home, and at work. It’ll inspire us to find ways to stay on track.
I’m so proud to be building it with you. Let’s KEEP GOING and finish this month STRONG!
KB