Are you measuring the right things? This episode challenges the obsession with “being busy” and dares to ask: are you focused on activity or actual results? Drawing from insights shared with top 1% salespeople, April Shprintz flips the script on traditional productivity advice. Discover when tracking activity is useful (and when it’s just a distraction), how to break free from the “busy = successful” myth, and why your feelings about your current activities are a crucial indicator of your future success. It’s time to redefine how you measure progress and finally achieve what you’re working towards.
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Results Or Activity?
The Pitfalls of Over-Reliance on Activity Metrics
I am so glad you’re here. I was on a show for top 1% salespeople and a question that they asked me applies to everyone, whether you’re in sales or not. It got me thinking about results or activity. The question that they asked me was from leading sales organizations and making sure that everyone hits the numbers for revenue that they want to hit. They’re like, “What is your best measurement for activity? What are all the metrics that you want people to hit so that you know that they’re good salespeople?”
I said, “For the most part activity metrics are bullshit. I don’t use them to measure the success of a sales team.” They were flabbergasted. If you’ve ever been in a sales organization, you probably know why because that’s what they measured your activities. How many calls are you making? How many client visits? How many deals are you closing? How many emails are you sending out? How many meetings are you having? How many?
Strategic Timing For Activity Measurement
What I will tell you and this is true in life as well, is there is a place for measuring activity and it’s usually at the beginning of something. Whether that’s a new salesperson with a sales territory, or you’ve started a new business, or you started a new workout plan. There’s a place to measure that activity because it’s too soon for any results and doing those activities without necessarily looking for the results just yet. Make sure that you’re going to get there. However, after you get past a certain point and it’s going to be different with everything.
Once we get to the place where we should be getting results, the activities are what we go to when we're nervous that we're not getting the results that we want. Share on XWith the workout program, it might be 6 to 8 weeks. With building a sales territory, you’re certainly going to see some movement in the first few months but you’re going to know that someone successful within the first year. That’s when those activity measures, just don’t matter like they used to. Think about someone that is good with nutrition and fitness. If they have a bad meal, that doesn’t impact overall how successful they are in what they’re doing.
Results Vs. Activity: Reframing Your Focus
The same is true for all of us. Once we get to the place where we should be getting results, the activities are what we go to when we’re nervous that we’re not getting the results that we want. Let me tell you what I mean. Again, I’m going to go back to a sales organization. You’ve got a salesperson who struggling. They’re not closing a lot of deals. The first thing they do is start looking at their activities again, because I’ll tell you, as someone who closed lots of deals. They didn’t pay attention to how many calls I made and how often I was going to see a client because the proof was in the pudding, so to speak, the results that I was getting.
If you are happy in your relationship, you are not looking for activity like, “When was the last time he got me flowers? When was the last time that she cooked me my favorite meal? When was the last time we took a vacation? When are we going out on dates?” If you have the result, you have the actual good relationship. You are not looking at those activities. If you find yourself looking at activities, that is almost always going to be an indicator if you’re far into something that it’s not going well. That’s not a bad thing. That’s great data. That’s great information.
If you find yourself looking at activities, that is almost always going to be an indicator if you're far into something that is not going well. Share on XIf you’re looking and comparing how many times certain things happened, it means that you’re not getting the results that you want. From a mindset perspective, since we are always focusing on the what and not the how. If you dig too much to those activities, you’re going to go down to a not fun place. If you find yourself when you’re not in the beginning because activity results are great in the beginning. If you measure those activities until you get to the place where you should be seeing some fruit from that labor. That’s fine.
When you find yourself, doing it later on and you have that indicator like, “There’s something I don’t like about this.” Back up. Don’t talk about all the activities that you’re not doing to get what you want. Now, I want you to reset and think what are the activities that would lead me to what I do want. Instead of focusing on what you’re not getting or you’re not doing. I want you to focus on what you do want to get and what you do want to do.
This reframe will get you back on track because I’m telling you, if you’re not in the beginning stages of something and you’re starting to micromanage activities. You’re just not happy. It is not going well. That is fine. That is information that we can use to get to where we want to go. Give this a shot and let me know what you think. If you are one of those people who always wants to measure activities and you think I’m crazy. You have a better suggestion, let me know. You can always go to WinningMindsetMasteryPodcast.com. All the way down at the bottom of the page there’s Ask April. You and I can have a two-way conversation that is private and I will answer you personally. I would be more than happy to have a conversation with you. Here’s to your success.
