Over the next few weeks we are going to examine how we take ownership, what that means in terms of the individual and their managers, and some techniques that can help you set achievable objectives and then own the success of achieving those objectives. Or to put it another way - help you earn more!
Why should I own my own success?
We have frequently stated that sales people should create their own business plans, not solely rely on the targets and objectives set by others. The most successful sales people are those who know what they want to achieve, have a measurable definition of that as a set of objectives and goals, and can articulate the steps they have to take to attain them.
The challenge of any sales person working for someone other than themselves is that they have the safety net provided by the company - whether it is the initial guarantee, or a high basic, or even the "house accounts". These all contribute to sales people letting the company define their destiny, when success does not arrive it is not their fault, they did not own the success in the first place.
This is not as rare as you might think. How many sales people who can live off their basic, fail to achieve target?- their is no consequence of failure, they do not have an objective that they need to achieve - THEY DO NOT OWN THEIR OWN SUCCESS
Look at the alternative, an "entrepreneurial" sales person. They have to own their own success, no sales means no money. But they don't just want to own "enough" they want to earn more than that. They want a new car, a bigger house, a luxury holiday, a more successful business, happy clients etc. Ask them what they want and they can clearly articulate it. Once they know what they want they then achieve it, "they become driven to succeed"
That's all well and good, but shouldn't my manager be trying to make me more successful?
If you are thinking to yourself "the reason I work for a company is that I like the support the company gives me", I have some bad news for you, as a sweeping generalisation those in the "sales effectiveness" world agree SALES MANAGEMENT IS FAILING.
Not enough coaching takes place, in fact currently sales managers, understandably, are so focussed on keeping their own jobs and managing their managers they are spending even less time, if that was possible, on helping their people succeed. How often have you heard your manager say, I haven't got time to do the 1-2-1 as I have been asked to produce a new forecast/report?
Now is the time to take control of your own destiny!
If you look around you, you will see many sales people earning more money than ever before (perhaps not as much as bankers though!). They are achieving this because now, in “difficult times” is the time when good sales people achieve their greatest success, when selling is truly the difference between winning and losing a deal. What do these people have in common? The answer is that they have taken control of their own destiny.
We are going to provide you with the techniques to do the same:
- Learn how to overcome the barriers to success
- Take control of your own objectives and achieve more
- Turn your manager into a coach to help you
- Build your own plan to achieve success
We want to hear from you along the way so we have created a LinkedIn group where we can share our thoughts and experiences, but not sell! You can find the group by going to LinkedIn and searching for the group Selling - Keeping it simple and effective or click here
Our initial question to everyone is what are the top 3 barriers to your success.
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