It has taken most of my life to realize that small things lead to big change when done consistently. I have always heard it, but living it is another thing. In the last few years, it has become more and more clear. It has become a firm belief. It has been validated by experience.

I currently work in a sales position for a telecom company. I won’t say which one, but it’s one of the big three. I have been with the company for about three and a half years now, and have done very well. My first role was as a sales rep in the retail store. I had worked retail at a Ritz Camera store as a high school senior, but it had been a long time with a lot of different jobs in between, including about 11 years in food and beverage service. Now, back in the throes of retail, I was having flashbacks of long inventory counts and constant waves of customers in varying moods.

My manager at that first store was a “tough but fair” kind of guy with a bit of a twisted sense of humor. I thought he was great, and still have his number in my phone. He taught me a lot about sales, but I think the most important advice he ever gave me was this: “Consistency is everything. If you are consistent in your behaviors, you will be surprised at how successful you will be.”

I’m paraphrasing a little, because he was speaking more to the consistency of offering all products and services to everyone, regardless of what they came into the store for. I remember challenging him on this, asking him, “how does it make sense for me to offer X when they came into the store for Y?” And I will never forget his response. He told me to “take them on a date,” conversationally speaking. He said it doesn’t matter what they came in for. Of course I’m going to help them with that, but while I’m helping them, I need to talk with them, get interested in learning a little about them, and ask questions to uncover the need for additional products and services. In doing so, they might say something that helps us both realize how they might truly benefit from something else we could offer.

I was amazed at how well this worked. I’m still amazed by it today. Now, working for the same company, I’m in a role where I visit existing customers in their homes and see if there is anything else we can offer that might solve a pain point they have. Every single day I meet new people, make a meaningful connection with those people in a short period of time, and then am pleasantly surprised when they jump at the opportunity to switch a service over from a competitor because of the relationship we built.

I have noticed that the key to my success has always been consistency. I need to consistently ask questions that engage the customer. I need to consistently go through a checklist of information to consider when creating a custom offer for them. I need to consistently make the offer, even when I doubt that they may be interested. And sometimes they aren’t interested. But many times, to my delightful surprise, they are.

This principle of consistency has helped me in more ways than just sales. Right now, I’m coming up on a 900-day streak on Duolingo in my journey to learn Spanish. I don’t do a lot every day, but I always do at least a little. And that has been enough to help me better speak, read, and understand a second language.

I’m trying to apply this principle in more areas of my life. I’m trying to apply it here, to this blog, by writing something and hitting publish every day. I’m trying to listen to more podcasts that teach me new things, or get me thinking of things in a different way. I want to do a lot, but for now I’m making sure to at least do a little every day, and focus on doing it consistently.

-woodrow