My competitive nature to be the best, along with a perfectionist, Type A personality that many marketers and sellers have – oftentimes lead me down the path of over-thinking and over-working every little detail. This meant every email had to be crafted flawlessly, and presentations would sometimes come home with me to be worked on and perfected for the following day’s meeting. I sometimes obsessed over the right words to use with a client and avoided mistakes like the plague.
You might be thinking, “This is a great trait to have, why would a manager not want this?” But the truth of the matter is, it can be a strength in the right situation, but if you’re not aware of it and in control of it, then it can slow you down tremendously and even stop you from taking action, making quick decisions, or producing. I had a manager that was wise enough to know I needed to be told sometimes, “It’s good enough – now move on.”
“Don’t let paralysis by analysis stop you from action.”
I find this lesson to be especially valuable in today’s digital world, and even more so with inbound marketing. You should always focus on producing quality content, and of course proofing and design elements are equally important, but oftentimes the clients we work with tend to get caught up in the minor details which can delay them from doing what they’ve actually set out to do… which is to regularly publish thought-provoking and educational content that they’re customers and prospects want to read.
The right font, the matching colors, that perfect stock photo, the blogger bios that could be better, the one formatting issue that you just can’t get right… those are all important elements but it’s critical that we all keep an eye on when these are preventing us from actually producing and moving forward, and deciding when, “It’s good enough – now move on.”
You might not be the type of person who obsesses over the details and allows it to get in the way of quick action. However, there’s a good chance that you have a colleague or employee or client or even spouse who is this type of person. So, whether it’s you or someone you know, identify the tendency for paralysis by analysis and address it when it needs to be. Determine situations where almost perfect is enough, and making the minor adjustments can be put on the backburner for a future to-do list.
After all, that’s the beauty of the digital age we live in – nothing is permanent. Websites can be redesigned, blog posts can be changed, fixed, or edited, Facebook posts can be deleted, and small mistakes aren’t going to cost you your job. Action is key because the world around us is moving quickly, what are you doing to keep up?
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Dani Buckley is an Inbound Marketing Consultant at The Center for Sales Strategy.
