August BHAG

Hey, Scott from The Sales Mastermind here. Today’s edition only takes 3 minutes.

Just because August is slow, don't waste it.

August

Early August is a slow-selling season for B2B sellers worldwide. (Reply if your industry is different - I’m always curious)

In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the end of summer, which means certain countries are completely shut down (especially the Nordics and parts of Europe), while others are counting down the days until the kids go back to school, or getting in one final holiday before the cold comes.

For the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the depth of winter, and we’re all hibernating before Spring and Summer.

And it’s the middle month for the calendar quarter.

All in all, August is a quiet selling month for B2B sellers.

However, this offers you a fleeting opportunity to take advantage of.

Your Opportunity

Instead of wasting a few light weeks, I use August to make big progress on my BHAG.

BHAGs explained

If you’re interested in joining me for BHAG August, the first step is to decide what you want to focus on.

Unless something immediately springs to mind, I've found the best way to decide on your focus is to invest an hour or two, some pen and paper, and a visit to somewhere with a table to write on and, ideally, some nature.

I find the ideal locations for this are a local park with a table or a small cafe. Leaving your office or home for a change of scenery gets the creative juices flowing.

When you arrive at your venue, leave your phone and laptop in the car or at home; it’s important you do not have any screens to distract you.

Once you're seated, open a new page in your notebook or pad of paper and write at the top:

“What do I need to fix in my business?”

Then start writing to answer the question, and you’re not allowed to get up for at least 30, 40, or 50 minutes.

Just let the words flow; you can edit later.

It’s also very important that you use pen and paper, not a screen. It’s too easy to get distracted by screens, and paper allows you to get creative with shapes or drawings.

At the end of the writing session, take 3-5-10 minutes to circle or mark out at least 3-5 ideas that could be your focus.

The Edit

Next, wait at least an hour. A day is better.

Once you have some space from the original session, read over everything you wrote. Everything, not just the main ideas.

And then pick ONE thing. Only one.

The best focuses are things you have wanted to do for a long time but have never found the time for.

This is your BHAG August.

Go start working on it.

(If the idea you picked is too big, or you’re not sure where to start, redo the writing exercise with the question “If I had to, how would I solve *the problem you picked*?”)

My August BHAG

This year I have chosen to focus on growing this email list.

I’ve avoided it for years because I know it will take a lot of effort, and I will probably fail many times before I succeed.

Also, growing a newsletter means learning Marketing skills. But deep in my identity is the fact I am a salesperson, so any time spent learning Marketing is time I could be selling.

But I have outgrown how much more work I can do on a 1-1 basis. Which means either increasing my rates (which I have done, and will continue to do) and/or increasing my capacity for clients - which means learning to be a Marketer to help those new clients uncover me.

Ultimately, the mechanism I have chosen to focus on is creating 3-4 lead magnet pieces of content that solve a problem my audience experiences.

The Poll

Which leads me to asking for your help.

If you’re a reader of this newsletter, I want more people like you to subscribe. Therefore, I want to know what sort of content you would want to consume.

Imagine you could only pick one piece of content that you want a super actionable deep dive on (think a longer, more actionable, more step-by-step newsletter) -

Final Point

Just because August is traditionally slow, I am NOT saying ignore all sales and pipeline activities.

Many industries need a great September, or the year can be a miss (for example, Fitness/Gyms/Wellness).

However, it’s a great time to reflect and get something big done that you might not have the time, effort, or energy to complete at another time of year.

What is your BHAG August going to be?

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