You! With the Face….Come Here!

Did you just read about the CFO of Freddie MAC being found dead of an apparent suicide?

Good God almighty, I can only imagine the darkness in the state of mind that views suicide as a viable alternative. 

Our prayers are with David Kellermann’s family.

So let’s talk about our world.  While rewarding, sales, especially in these times, can be a dark, lonely, depressing pursuit. 

These conditions worsen if the following are true:

• Historically, you are an under performer in relation to the rest of the team
• Your boss and/or management has no firm grasp on the reality of your marketplace
• Management has added unnecessary levels of scrutiny to you and your performance 
• You work remotely with minimal contact with other people

If you are battling a bout of the blues or self-doubt is worming its way into your pitch, here are two recommended remedies:

1. Update Your Resume

In our world, your resume should never go 6 months without being freshened up.   Trust me, there are days when I update mine ever 15 minutes.

In addition to needing it for a job search, especially if your boss catches you writing a blog post during business hours, updating your resume provides the benefit of reminding yourself of just how good you are.  If you haven’t done so, make room and add a list of your major accomplishments to the front page.  For example:

·         Over the past ten years, consistently placed in the top 10% of performers across multiple sales teams selling complex IT solutions and financial services

·         Help lead sales team from startup to annual sales of $10mm, personally leading the team three out of five years in new license revenue and follow-up customer sales

·         Introduced sales team to Strategic Account Management and the benefit of using a structured sales methodology, multiple reps shorten their sales cycles by 20% to 30%

·         Assigned to lead a troubled business unit; able to grow fee income by 25% in the first six months and lower client attrition rate by 50%

 

If you do this excercise, you will feel better about yourself and will gain a better sense of control over you current situation.

2. Go Learn Something New

I read, on average, one business book a month.  I started this practice during the dot com meltdown as a way to help keep my head as times got slow.  My first books where the ones I would see on the shelves of the “C’s” of my clients.  If you would like to do this and don’t know where to start, read a Jack Welch book.

Along these lines, our friends over at Meeting to Win have clued us in to a free webinar on Sales Leadership from a group that usually commands a premium for their content and insight.

Do yourself a favor and attend “The Sales Leadership Imperative”  on Thursday April 23rd at 1pm EST.

They will discuss how you can:

• Leverage your personal strengths as well as the hidden talents of your team.
• Communicate, connect and captivate your team during each meeting or conversation.
• Utilize a proven coaching model to impact performance immediately.
• Engage in daily revenue-generating activities and stop doing the things you shouldn’t be doing in the first place.
• Master the language of leaders, to get people into action without resistance.
• Build internal coaching program and ignite a power team.
• Develop the infallible confidence of a true champion to model what you want your people to achieve.
• Recruit, retain and motivate your top producers and turnaround underperformers.
• Turnaround or terminate an underperformer in less than 30 days

We highly recommend this session.

 

Good Luck.