The company that gave me my first opportunity in sales also introduced me to the blitz. Every Spring, they had a week of blitzing. It was a few days of the contest. Contest for the most sales, the most units sold, the most in-person cold calls completed.
They would announce the blitz with just a couple of days notice. The contest was fun and enjoyable. Everyone seemed to be pulling for something.
The reps were, in reality, competing with each other, but it didn’t seem like that. It seemed as if we had a common goal.
We would start the week with a little more effort than usual, and as the Thursday night finale approached, it seemed to build steam.
We would all come together for the results of our efforts. Names called out along with numbers and stats. The number, the name, the prize, and cheers!
I loved blitz week. I loved the extra energy in the air. Lots of good-natured competitiveness could be seen between top performers.
The winners usually were predictable. Maybe not which place or level. But, you could expect once a winner, it was difficult not to at least try to win again. Winners seemed to have something special. The winners voluntarily pushed themselves to do more than usual during blitz week. What usually could wait till next week, like a cold reach out or asking for the order, suddenly had fresh importance.
During blitz week, there were no minimums. No one said extra work hours this week. No one said, tell me exactly how you spent your week. But instead, they asked us as a group to show them what was possible. They set the stage for us to run fast and hard.
Those weeks were productive. The company hit numbers, closed new deals, new relationships started that became customers later.
The blitz, in truth, wasn’t extra effort. It was a focused effort with a deadline. It worked for everyone.
I’ve discovered often we think about what we have done, what we would do, and what we could do.
Blitz week is an example of what happens when you just focus on doing and doing it now.
