As a sales trainer & sales and marketing advisor, there are certain phrases that I really do not like to hear. One of them is “keep it simple.”
When I hear it, I sigh and get dejected, as when I hear it, it typically foreshadows a project with an evolutionary outcome, not a transformational outcome.
Should we always “keep it simple?’ Sometimes improvements that could double or triple our incomes or grow our businesses significantly are not simple. Does that mean we pass on these improvements, because they are not “simple.”
My experience is that “keep it simple” means don’t challenge me, don’t suggest ideas I am unfamiliar with, don’t suggest anything that won’t bring quick results, don’t ask me to change my routines or comfort zones.
Change is hard. When you are an adult, change is super hard.
The most powerful force on earth is an individual’s ability to rationalize why they don’t have to change their habits and routines, even when they are failing them.
“Keep it simple” is a self-imposed limitation on what you will do to achieve. Most people I deal with are very capable, skilled, business owners and salespeople. If the answer to their sales or business growth problem was “simple” I would assume they would have done it.
As they haven’t, then the answer must be something beyond simple. Or at least beyond simple as they define it.
Breakthrough achievement, or even evolutionary improvements, involve the unfamiliar and the uncomfortable, and in the beginning certainly do not feel simple.
Exploring the unfamiliar is part of the journey of achievement. Embrace it.
Don’t deny yourself achievement you are fully capable of by limiting your options with “keep it simple” thinking.
