Sometimes, three little words—the saying, the adopting, the believing—can make all the difference in the world. I'm not talking about the classic "I love you," or any variations thereof. Yesterday, Promotional Consultant Today shared three words to avoid in business. Today, we are sharing three important words that will boost your business: sense of urgency.

Those three words tend to define the difference between winning and losing. In a nutshell, winners have the sense of urgency; losers do not. When you're analyzing your own performance or that of your salespeople, ask yourself, "Do they display a sense of urgency about their jobs – or not?"

One might think that tighter economic times would provoke a greater sense of urgency on the part of those whose responsibility it is to make things happen. Often, however, the result is the opposite, because urgency's enemy—fear—sets in. Salespeople who would otherwise be highly motivated to make calls get nervous and apprehensive about "the economy," and thus calls go unmade ("I'd rather call them when the news is better"). Of course, since "the economy" is simply the cumulative effect of individual decisions to do or not to do business, every such postponement actually makes the economy a little worse.

Lack of urgency will affect business growth in multiple ways. Here's how:

The salesperson: I see a lack of urgency in many different parts of the sales process. As an example, recently an out-of-town company prospected me to purchase a fairly innovative marketing program. Coincidentally, a local company contacted me the very next day, offering a similar service. I know and like the owner of the local company, and I am a buy-local guy when it makes sense. So, I met with them and discussed some possibilities. I then waited for a proposal. And waited. And waited. Meanwhile, the out-of-town company was calling me to follow up. When I finally received a proposal from the local company (after not one but two calls asking if they wanted my business or not), it was less targeted to my needs than the one I'd received earlier from the out-of town company. Reasoning that if the local outfit didn't have a sense of urgency about winning the business, they were unlikely to have one when it came to servicing the business, I went with the out-of-town company. I'm pleased with my decision but if the local company had followed up aggressively, they'd have won the deal.

The sales manager: The most common way for urgency to get lost at the sales management level is when changes are desired by ownership, but the sales manager is lackadaisical about pushing that message to the reps and making sure that the right things happen. The biggest way the sales manager can reflect a lack of urgency, however, is simply by not making certain that the reps are maximizing their 40 hours per week. I call these sales managers "coast and collect" managers, and they're not a help to you or your company.

The business owner: Business owners can be the best and worst at having a sense of urgency. Sometimes, they're the best such as constructing a new building or adding a product line. Sometimes, they can be the worst. One example that I see all the time is the business owner who waits for the perfect time to do work to develop his/her personnel. "Well, I'd like to get the next person hired" becomes "We're kind of busy right now" becomes "We're not very busy right now so we're keeping an eye on cash" becomes "I just had two people leave." This rhetoric becomes a never-ending cycle. Not coincidentally, the companies owned by these business owners seldom grow.

Having a sense of urgency means maximizing every lead, every call, every proposal and every hour. If you're doing it, great! If not, remember those three little words.

Source: Troy Harrison is the author of Sell Like You Mean It! and president of SalesForce Solutions, a sales training, consulting and recruiting firm.