What Will You Do Differently Next Year?

For those whose fiscal year follows the calendar, a new year beckons.

Will you be entering the new business cycle with a “steady as she goes” attitude or do you recognize that more of the same might, in fact, be a risky approach?  It could well be that you are coming to the close of a strong year and your focus might easily be “how do we maintain our momentum?”  But, how strong has your year really been?  You can certainly compare your current results against the prior year and state unequivocally that the numbers are up (if in fact they are).  But a more relevant comparison would be how you are doing against your competitors.  Is it possible that your competitors are enjoying an even better year than you are and consequently, you are actually slipping behind?  Of course it’s possible, but how would you know if that has been happening?

When you get fully absorbed in running your business, it is very easy to remain in technician mode. You just keep “working in your business”.  If you are not careful, you can lose sight of what is going on around you.  You might think that all is well with your customer base, but how do you actually know that is the case? Could it be that your presumptions are based upon the old adage that “no news is good news”?

In the absence of certainty, why don’t you build a scenario in which you assume that the competition is out flanking you.  Rather that adopting an attitude of laissez faire, why don’t you assume that your current strategy could stand some revisiting?  Perhaps you might challenge yourself by making your strategy more “ruggedized”.

The author Seth Godin suggests that playing it safe is the riskier approach to running your business.  Now, please recognize that I’m not suggesting that strengthening your strategy means a wholesale change to your current business model.  But, I am suggesting that the status quo is a dangerous place to be.

Why don’t you decide that 2014 will be the year that you determine what actions can be taken to be different in a meaningful way to your customer base?

Hunt or Be Hunted

The top 20% of salespeople earn 80% of the money.  But, we need to remember that the top 20% of salespeople started out in the bottom 20% of the selling population.  Those at the top do the hunting, while those at the bottom are hunted.

Selling consists of a stepwise process that can be learned by anyone who has the motivation to improve his or her selling results.  I had a public school teacher who was fond of saying “repetition for emphasis”.  Well, the process of learning new ideas; practicing them; getting customer feedback and then repeating the process would have my former teacher nodding her head in agreement.

The learning cycle normally takes one from unconscious incompetence (don’t know what we don’t know) to unconscious competence (know it instinctively).  Your selling results will track this learning cycle.  So, if we want to be in the top 20% of salespeople in our particular field, we need to be sufficiently motivated to be hunters rather than the hunted.

FocalPoint Coaching, in conjunction with Brian Tracy International, have condensed the best sales teaching materials of Brian Tracy into an impactful one day, video based training program.  Brian has trained more than two million sales professionals over the past 32 years and now his understanding and insights are available through the Sales Success Intensive (SSI) training program.  I have been certified to facilitate this program and you can be on your way to significantly improved sales results if you participate in this training program.  View my endorsement from Brian Tracy here. 

Contact me to learn when the next SSI program is scheduled.

Is Selling A Blood Sport?

We are within 100 days of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  I can’t help but think that sports events are a good analogy for the profession of selling.

I’ve been sitting watching some of the curling play-downs that will lead to the selection of the men’s and women’s curling teams that will represent Canada in Russia.  It is very apparent that fitness is central to today’s professional curler.  A conversation with one of the team’s coaches confirmed that the attention to fitness and nutrition is much greater today than previously.  If you’ve curled, you know that beer drinking also plays a large role in the sport!  I’ve also been able to observe some of the practicing that marks the curlers’ preparation.  My most significant observation has to be the accuracy with which these players are able to execute their shots. It is quite amazing. Obviously, much practice has gone into each player’s preparation.

Are we approaching our selling efforts with the same type of preparation and dedication as the curlers?  For those of us who are paid for our selling efforts, we could easily think of ourselves as sales professionals.  But, do we approach our selling in a manner that befits a professional?  Our selling skills might have been learned a long time ago.  Or, perhaps we were thrown into sales with the ‘sink or swim’ approach.  That is, with no formal training whatsoever.  Regardless of our previous preparation, what are we doing as sales professionals to maintain our ‘A’ game?  After all, this is the occupation that we have chosen in which to make a significant investment for our future.

No one forced us to be in sales.  It is a choice that we made for ourselves.  However, are we proactively engaged in improving our selling skills and knowledge?  Are we preparing for the next big game?  Do we further our understanding by observing others, refreshing our formal training or simply reading about the subject?

We may not think about selling as a blood sport, but the reality is that we sell our products and services against competitors.  If our ‘team’ cannot succeed against the competition, then we know which team isn’t going to the ‘Olympics’.  In other words, failure in the marketplace for our company will likely lead to red ink on the P&L statement.

It is also incumbent upon us to maintain our personal performance at the highest level.  Failure to do this could find someone else shooting lead rocks, while we become the spectators.

We should all commit to making annual investments in ourselves that will keep us in the game.

Do We Remember?

November.

Wind swept. Cold. Wet.

A month for remembering.  Edmund Burke once said that “those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it”.

My father landed on Juno Beach in 1944. It was D-Day.  He was a member of the Highland Light Infantry signal corps and he came home safely.  He never spoke about his wartime experiences with his family.  Humorous incidents, yes, but nothing else.  I know that this is a common trait amongst veterans.  Perhaps the combatants thought that not speaking about their personal horrors would lessen the chance that others would have to repeat them.  I don’t know.

It is important that we honour those that sacrificed so much — their youth, their opportunities, their lives.
But, perhaps we should also pause during our periods of remembrance and reflect upon our dreams.  Our ‘what could be’.  After all, those who gave so much did so with the understanding that they were struggling for a better future.  Not just for themselves, but for those who followed.

We would do well to strive for that future, lest we forget.

BIZBUZZ – Brad Ham; Ownership Thinking

This is episode 4 of BIZBUZZ.

I stimulate conversations that challenge business owners to consider new possibilities and to Act Boldly.  This video highlights the comments from Brad Ham that made the greatest impact on me in his book Ownership Thinking.

Hi, I’m Gary Brown a FocalPoint business coach.

Welcome to BIZBUZZ.

I’ve chosen to comment on Ownership Thinking, a book written by Brad Ham that deals essentially with the subject of employee engagement.

I’ve pulled three observations from the book that interest me.

The first sounds humourous but it carries a very significant message.  Ham asserts that in the absence of information, people make stuff up.  Hence, what our employees don’t know can hurt the company.  Now, that should get our attention.

My next take-away is a subject that I think is very important and it is referred to as the measurement of key performance indicators (KPIs).  This is the measurement of the things that the people in the organization actually do.  KPIs are those activities that ultimately determine a company’s financial performance.

My final comment deals with Ham’s description of the four principles that support ownership thinking.  They are: the right people, the right education, the right measures and the right incentives.

Actually, I’m going to deviate (does this make me sound like a politician?) and add a fourth to my list.  Ham suggests that we consider adding an Adult Contract into our companies.  The pursuit of excellence can be stressful, so this contract is an agreement that we are all adults and that we would all like to get the same things from our work.  These are a rewarding and enjoyable environment; a place to learn and grow and financial opportunities.

That’s it for Ownership Thinking.

Thanks for watching.

Your comments are always welcome.

Stay tuned for more BIZBUZZ.