Wash Your Dishes
A decade ago when I started selling SaaS for a large digital marketing company (I started by selling to local SMBs), there was an awesome routine I picked up from our head of the region that I’ve stuck with.
It was a really powerful exercise that we did on the first workday of the month to close out the prior month. I call it washing your dishes.
I particularly like it because it’s good to do whether you are coming off of a strong performance (to keep yourself humble and objective) or a weak one (to level up, improve your confidence, and reinvigorate yourself).
I highly encourage you to steal this habit and use it for your own monthly and quarterly reviews.
Here’s how it works…
Step 1: Get Clean 🧼
This means tying up all of your loose ends (like getting handover docs created for your closed deals) and cleaning up your pipeline (like getting rid of dead opportunities in your CRM).
This step is all about breathing new life and freshness into your pipeline. It’s also about being realistic for the upcoming 90 days. To do that, ask yourself one very simple question:
“Can my pipeline realistically support my upcoming quarter?”
It’s not just about getting rid of junk for cleaner reporting, it’s about the psychological boost you can give yourself by being radically candid.
Remember, we’re operating our life and account list like a CEO runs a company. A CEO can’t make clear decisions if she’s not radically honest with the current state of the business.
Clean pipeline = clear plan.
Step 2: Get Clear 🔎
With your closed deals all tightened up and the dead opportunities removed, now it’s time to get crystal clear on what to do and who to focus on.
This is where you go through your inboxes, sequences, event attendees, etc. and determine:
→ Who’s worth keeping?
→ Who needs a breakup?
→ Who needs to be nurtured?
→ Who needs your undivided attention?
→ Who can be asked for a referral? (so often overlooked)
Once you have answers to these questions, you have a very clear guide of who and where you need to devote your TEA (Time, Energy, and Attention) over the next 90 days.
Step 3: Get Confident 💪
Take out a journal and ask yourself two important questions:
- 1. What went well?
- 2. What needs to improve?
Set a timer for 25 minutes and just freely write your answers to these questions. Note: be sure you are doing this undistracted and undisturbed. Just write and don’t judge yourself. Remember to be objective and keep the emotion out of it.
Once the timer goes off. Take a break for 5 minutes (go for a walk outside, chill out, grab a healthy snack – the point is to stop working and clear your head).
Now come back and set the timer for 25 minutes again and write down your plan:
- 1. How can you double down on the things that go well?
- 2. How can you change the areas that need to improve?
Bonus Step: Get Inspired 🎨
When I was with that digital marketing company, we could leave the office after we completed our monthly review.
These days, with the hectic pace and barrage of stress, I think it’s really important we dedicate at least one day (not a PTO day, but an actual workday) to fine tune our personal system. A part of that is to recharge the batteries.
So I highly encourage you after completing this strategic work – go do something enjoyable like a hobby, go on a hike, or a long bike ride – whatever inspires you.
Like other top performance fields (think arts, science, sports) these masters don’t constantly hustle and grind, they know when to rest and recover. After the end of a hard month or quarter, it’s a great time to do a mini-reset.
There you have it.
It’s really that simple – Get clean, get clear, and get confident. Try it out this month and see how your next 90 days improve.
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When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
1/ Get the exact system I’ve used to go from earning $200K to over $1M a year in SaaS sales without burning out here. (1,800+ students)
2/ Join a community of Purpose-Curious™ sellers in the Make More Hustle Less Club where we develop a personal operating system together here. (300+ members)
3/ Book a 1:1 coaching session to up-level your performance here. (Limited spots available)