There Are No Silver Bullets

It seems every day I encounter someone looking for a silver bullet:

“How do I get my prospect to see me, what’s the one thing/trick/technique you recommend that causes prospects to want to meet?”

“What is the best technique to overcome objections?”

“What is the way I can get my customer to select our solution?”

“What is the latest technology that will cause our team to consistently hit their numbers?”

“How do I make sure I hire only A players?”

The list goes on endlessly.

Inevitably, people asking these questions find what they think is a silver bullet. Clearly, it’s worked for someone else, they think it might work for them.

Possibly it works, until it doesn’t, sometimes it just never works.

And the search continues for the next silver bullet or magic solution.

There’s some relief in looking for silver bullets. We don’t have to take responsibility for the outcomes. We always have something to blame failure on–other than ourselves.

“We selected the wrong tool….”

“The training program just wasn’t right for our solutions…”

“We have the wrong people….”

“The customer just doesn’t get it…”

We go on to the next and the next and the next. It’s a bumpy, inconsistent ride. Things work for a while until they don’t, again, we move on.

The reality is there are no silver bullets. Success–at least consistent success is hard work. It’s grinding it out every day, learning, experimenting, adjusting/adapting, always trying to improve. It’s never based on one tool, technique, approach, or trick, but based on doing everything that success requires. It’s about the consistent execution of each detail. It’s about not taking things for granted.

Ironically, perhaps that’s the silver bullet—doing the hard work.

We invest so much time in trying to find the tricks, techniques, tools–the ways we can avoid taking personal responsibility and doing the work. Yet those things don’t produce results, at least by themselves.

If we shift our focus, doing the hard work, learning, and improving; perhaps we produce the results we have been chasing.