Procrastination is making me wait

In this month’s issue of Psychology Today, there’s an article on Procrastination titled, Getting Out From Under. We all procrastinate– that doesn’t mean we’re all lazy or that we can’t manage our time. Some describe procrastination as “a misguided sense of activity” and in today’s highly distracted working environment, procrastination is a growing problem.

So why do we procrastinate? Some reasons may be: lack of self-disipline, saying you work best under pressure, lack of deadlines and doing the easy and trivial first and postponing the difficult for later.

What about our customers and prospects? What happens when we call on busy and distracted decision-makers who may be procrastinating on reviewing your proposals, quotes, or email?  We’ve heard it before when we call on a prospect who says, “this is something we want to look at but not this quarter, call me back next quarter.” How can we create urgency when we know they are procrastinating?

The worst part about procrastinating is that it can be contagious and harmful to your sense of priorities. When people procrastinate, they exclude the urgency but keep the importance of it.  Unless we remind our prospects of the value we  bring and the results we’ve achieved, they will not take the time to prioritize you as a vendor.