"At 211º water is hot.  At 212º it can power a locomotive.  One extra degree makes all the difference."  This quote is from one of my all time favourite motivational micro movies, called 212 Degrees.  Although I am Canadian and a metric baby, my father was firmly entrenched in the Imperial system and some things I still think of in the "old" way.  I would like to believe that I understand the difference one degree of temperature can make.

Do you understand what one degree of extra effort can mean to your business?  In North America we have the very misguided impression that success requires huge efforts, lucky breaks, and unearthly talent.  Fortunately this is just not the case.  The difference between successful businesses and unsuccessful businesses usually comes down to the small, every day actions that the successful take that the unsuccessful ignore or never get around to.

What if you and every single person on your sales team started tracking the number of sales calls they make?  What if then they decided to make one extra contact a day?  Even if the closing ration doesn't change, if you were making 5 extra contacts a week, how many extra sales would you make in a week, a month, and a year?

What if you made a point of sending a hand written thank you card every time you did business with a customer thanking them for their support?  How many hand written thank you cards have you ever received?  Did you remember the person fondly?  Do you still have the card safely stored somewhere?  What could that small, personal touch do to your bottom line?

If you spent ten minutes every night before you shut down and go home getting organized and ready for the following day, how much more productive could you be?  By writing out your to do list, reviewing your appointment schedule for the next day, and figuring out your priorities how much wasted time could you save and bring back into your business?  How much stress could you eliminate from your life and your business?  How many fires could you prevent?  How much more could you accomplish each and every day?

Reading ten pages of a good book a day can have you reading 10 - 12 books a year.  If you were reading at least one book a month that teaches you new ways to market, attract and retain great customers, something new and innovative in your field, or a better way to hire and keep excellent employees (as just a few examples) how much better could you become?  How much of a growing advantage would you have over your competitors?

As you can see, there are many things that you can do that seem so small and simple that they seem insignificant when you look at them on their own.  By letting the power of compound interest take hold and build on your daily efforts you will see tremendous returns much sooner than you would have ever imagined possible.  Make a commitment today to start consistently doing that one extra degree of effort and see where it takes you.

            http://www.212movie.com/

"And the one extra degree of effort in business and in life ... separates the good from the great!"

            Simple Truths