The pipeline isn’t getting filled.  Opportunities are not moving from stage to stage quickly enough. You realize you’re not going to make quota if you can’t increase the pipeline.  A plan has to be built and something has to be done.  You look at the pipeline.  You do the math.  You figure how many calls you need to make to create more prospects to get more opportunities.  You build a new calling plan that increases the number of calls you make in a day. You find new lists to call from. You identify a key prospect profile. You block off several hours a day for just cold calling and following up with prospects. With new vigor you jump in and go for it.  The problem is you aren’t solving the problem, you’re addressing the symptom. The problem isn’t how often you call it’s how poorly you are selling. You’re missing key buying signals. You don’t have a good hook. You don’t understand the business of your prospects. You’re talking at prospects.  More calls isn’t going to solve the problem. They will just hide it.

Solving the symptom is too common. The symptom is obvious.  It sits in the open, like the male mallard duck distracting us from the nest.  The symptom is a distraction, causing us to look away from the real problem.  Symptoms don’t allow us to think, to dig deep, to evaluate what is truly going on. We need to solve problems. To do so means we need to see them.

Are you addressing the problem or the symptom?

To solve problems means finding the problem. You have to be dig, be honest, look inside, do your homework, look at all the symptoms, and challenge what you already know. Without deep evaluation and assessment your just solving symptoms. Solving symptoms takes just as much work as solving problems. So, why not just solve the problem?