Leave it All on the Field

I was at my son’s soccer match this past week in a big game against a local rival school. The hype for the game was at its highest, both teams flexing how they were going to be the victors and doing what kids do. The game was intense both teams leaving it all out on the field, and unfortunately, we came up short. Seeing my son at the end of the game, exhausted, sweaty, and bloody there was no doubt he left it all out on the field, he had nothing more he could give.

I remember these days of competing in sports and hearing my coaches tell me, "leave it all out on the field." In business, do we leave it all out on the field? Do we train, like athletes do? Do we stretch our ability to perform each day? Do we practice the fundamentals of our sport to be slightly better than our competitor's? The simple answer is, not really.

Most organizations struggle to develop their teams. They don't have good training and ongoing reinforcement programs to develop skills for today's workforce, leaving it up to the employee to develop themselves. Here is where people’s mindset is interesting. When we are kids, we are forced into uncomfortable situations by our parents we didn't necessarily have a lot of say in the matter. Now as adults, we have something called free will and most of us live in our comfort zones. Unless, we have someone who is pushing us out of it and forcing us to grow.

I am blessed to be surrounded by people that challenge my assumptions, which forces me to look at myself. It has created an obsession with being outside of my comfort zone. It’s here where I experience the biggest growth, it’s here where I truly learn new behaviors and create a better version of myself.

The focus is on 3 main areas:

Behaviors:
Behaviors can be defined as the activity you are doing on a consistent basis to drive your desired outcome. In sales there aren't many activities we need to do on a consistent basis that tie to revenue.
1. Outbound Proactive Phone Calls
2. Walk In's
3. Referral Conversations
4. Networking Events
5. Up-Sell Cross Sell Activities

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of other activities that we do as sales professionals but these are the main behaviors that you can tie to revenue. So, the lesson here is, be boring, be consistent.

Attitude:
Sales is hard; rejection, the need to be liked, lack of instant gratification, the roller coaster ride of being a producer. All of these weigh on our perception of ourselves, the market place, the economy, our organizations, down to the product or service we are trying to sell. If our attitude stinks we more than likely are linking it to our production.

Technique:
How we do what we do. In business there are many systems and processes. Payroll, shipping & receiving, how we make our widgets, how to answer the phone, but the one area typically overlooked is sales. It always fascinates me that organizations who have been around for generations, successful and highly profitable, don't have a documented executable sales process that holds their people accountable, and is transferable from person to person allowing the team to be coached and developed.

The focus in these 3 areas allow me to leave it all on the field. It forces me to get out of my comfort zone and create the newest version of myself, that is faster, stronger, smarter, and more successful than the previous version.

See you on the field and as always, KEEP GROWING

- Rob Yoho, Principal
  Sandler by MP Solutions