A Watched Pot Never Boils

You’ve probably heard this expression before, well, probably not with the word cleaning in it – but, hopefully it still rings some sort of bell.

Here are a few examples of when this ‘watched pot’ problem kicks in:

It could have been when you were nervously waiting to hear back about an important interview, or maybe when one of your kids was anxiously waiting to hear if they ‘made’ a sports team.

The ‘where’ or ‘when’ is less important than the ‘what’ and ‘why’, as in what does

the expression mean and why is it so important for to know us when it comes to marketing and selling janitorial or residential cleaning services.

Well, WHAT the saying means, of course, is that it doesn’t do any good to sit around worrying about something whose outcome is out of your control.

You’ve put in the ingredients, and turned on the burner,-simply staring at the pot isn’t going to help anything!

In fact, it even suggests, it may actually hurt your chances of getting the desired results, in this case, a boiling pot.

And, as far as the WHY, specifically, why is this important to you and me in the selling commercial cleaning, well, it’s because of ENERGY!

That’s right. Your energy.

You only have so much, and rather than waste it, or lose it altogether, you need to direct it to where it can do the most good.

So, let’s get to it. What does this have to do with your cleaning business?

Well, here it is.

All too often, I hear from anxious janitorial contractors who explain they can’t stop thinking about a commercial or residential cleaning account they just bid on.

They desperately want to get the business, so they endlessly run over and over in their minds what they should do next, whether they should call back again, and what they should say.

They are so anxious, so fixated on this account – they can think of nearly nothing else.

And that’s the problem.

They get so ‘hung up’ on landing any this one account, they let themselves become immobilized, basically ‘frozen’ by worry, and stop moving forward on all the other leads out there.

Now, I’m not saying, don’t do your scheduled follow up on every cleaning bid. You absolutely should!

What I AM talking about is not letting any one janitorial account become so important in your mind, that you lose your energy and momentum on your other marketing efforts.

Remember, it still is a numbers game. So, don’t waste your energy dwelling on the outcome of any one bid.

You’ll have more ENERGY when you don’t sit around fretting and may, in fact, improve your chances of landing more accounts because your attitude with your prospects will be one of confidence, not desperation.

You can do it. And when you do, the pot will begin to boil!

You Can Do This, You Really Can!
Dan