Nearly 20 years ago, I took my first ski lesson. In the years since, I’ve taken many more. My lessons would vary from 2-6 hours but regardless of length, I could count on getting loads of instruction during this time – so much instruction that I sometimes thought my brain was going to explode! Make a wedge, do that snowplow, keep your shoulders straight, lean forward, keep your skis parallel, get on your edges, plant the pole and turn, hit your sweet spot, turn on the bump, turn before the bump, etc. etc. etc.! Oh my gosh! How in the world was I supposed to remember everything at one time? If you’ve taken ski lessons, I’m sure you understand...if you haven’t, just think about any time you had to learn something completely new.
It was so overwhelming for me, this ski thing! Until, that is, one day when my ski instructor said to the class, “I know I’m hitting you with a LOT of information. Don’t stress about trying to remember all of it. You don’t become an expert skier in one day or one lesson and not everything works for everyone. Instead, take a few key things from this lesson that work for you and apply them. Then take another lesson. Take a few more key things from that lesson and apply them. Keep doing that and you’ll become an expert skier.”
“Whoa!” was my first thought. “You mean I don’t have to try to do everything at once? I can take what makes sense and make it work for me, little by little? I LOVE this concept!” What profound advice that was for me.
Well, that advice doesn’t just apply to skiing; I’ve found it can be applied to anything new we’re learning or doing.
Take the customer life cycle. Trying to address every gap and opportunity at once will quickly overwhelm you. It’s too much and when you try to do too much, you end up confused. At best, you’ll get by; at worst, you’ll lose interest or fail. Rather, why not focus on a long-term improvement plan; one that allows you to address a few key things first and then a few more key things and so on and so on?
Let’s say you need to focus on your prospecting skill-set first. Or perhaps a gap in your post-sale follow-up is killing you. Whatever it is, prioritize it, focus on it and approach it the same way my ski instructor advised. Find a few key things that work for you and apply them. Once you have them down, find a few more key things and apply them. Each time you do this, you’ll be better than you were before. Do this until your performance in that area is expert or differentiated. Then move on to the next area of improvement. What’s great about this concept is that:
- You can focus more precisely and that leads to better results
- You improve each time you apply a few key things
- You can celebrate successes regularly and keep momentum strong
- You are driven to differentiate your performance


