20% for New Business

Imagine for a moment that at nineteen, you know exactly what your calling in life is.

Unfortunately, it’s to be a writer.

Unfortunate, because making a living from writing is nearly impossible. There’s a reason legends like Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack Kerouac, and Hunter S. Thompson all struggled with alcoholism.

In your 20s and 30s, you write constantly but never finish anything. You bounce around the country—New York to L.A.—never in one place longer than six months.

By your 40s, the twenty-pound Smith Corona typewriter you lug everywhere makes a lousy pillow as you sleep in your van for months. You’re broke, but still writing.

At 52, you finish your first book.
A major publisher buys it.
Then Robert Redford options it for a movie.
Then Will Smith and Matt Damon sign on to star.

If you can picture all that, you’re imagining the life of Steven Pressfield.

The movie?
It was The Legend of Bagger Vance.

And it stunk.
To high heavens.

The 43% Rotten Tomatoes score seems generous.

Now, this fantastical world of novels, moviemaking, and Matt Damon might feel a million miles from your own.

But it’s not.

Pressfield writes a weekly newsletter on the craft of writing, but it’s really about all the same things we deal with: battling resistance, rejection, and self-deception as we try to deliver value to more people and grow our own book of business.

Here’s a recent edition of his “Writing Wednesday ”:

20% for New Business

When I first went to work as a neophyte copywriter in advertising, back in the Mad Men era, the thing that surprised me most was how much time was allocated (and required) by the agency for New Business.

When we filled out our weekly time sheets, we had to show 20% at least under that heading. “New business” in agency terms meant pitching potential clients.

In other words, the agency—like every other business—was aware of attrition. Clients would dump us. To make up forthis, we had to be constantly seeking new ones.

My boss and good friend Phil Slott (who was always very canny about stuff like this) observed that this principle applied in our personal and individual lives as well.

We too were always “losing clients,” he said. Shit happens. Losses roll in. Bad stuff shows up in our Inbox.

“The first reaction for most of us,” Phil said, “is to downsize. Cut back. Stop the bleeding. But the smart thing, even though it’s really hard, is to do the opposite. Do what the agency does—reach out aggressively and creatively, trying to bring in fresh action, something new to keep us excited and energized.”

I’m in that exact place now. Every bone in my body is screaming, “Trim your sails, pull back on all fronts, stop the outflow.”

But Phil is right. Hard as it is, we have to keep pushing forward, putting out new stuff, reaching beyond what our fear and self-doubt tell us is possible.

20% for New Business.

For the next five working days, follow Pressfield’s advice and track what percentage of time you spend on new business. The defining feature of new business activity is any preparation for, and engagement with, an existing customer or prospect where you may hear the word no.

Because if you’re not at risk of hearing no, you’re not in a position to hear yes, either.

To track this honestly, you need a time management system. Click here to check out our Weekly Game Plan tool + training—the system used by hundreds of LBM sales pros (including me) every day.

However you do it, track your time.
20% is the goal.

Then email me at bradley@bradleyhartmannandco.com and tell me how it went.

Steven Pressfield is proof that everybody’s in sales.

Read his work for thirty minutes and you’ll see: The image of the brilliant, solitary writer clacking away on a Smith Corona in a cabin in the woods is a myth.

Great stories don’t just appear, they’re sold, just like everything else.

You, me, Pressfield: we’re all out there selling.

We’re entrepreneurs, struggling to manage our own autonomy as we help other people overcome their own resistance as they chase their calling.

That’s how we write—and grow—our own books of business.

Thanks for reading.
I’ll be back next Thursday.

Subscribe here to get the next edition of The Craft of LBM Sales straight to your inbox—weekly stories and practical advice to master the craft of selling.

Contact Bradley Hartmann:
bradley@bradleyhartmannandco.com

20% for New Business

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