Growth Dynamics Get Down

Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. I know there's a lot of ego danger in putting our hands up and saying, "I don't get everything". "I don't have it all figured out." Business development is tough and trying to get everything right, when you're new in the business, or new at a company, new in an industry, man, you have got to be willing to add another head to the process to help you think clearly, and find out, not just what you know, but what you don't know.

Symptoms:
Charlie had been working with a long-time client and just can’t believe why some meetings could really get under his skin. Charlie left angry with this client’s attitude towards him, the ability to waste time like it was nothing and at times complete disrespect for Charlie and his process.

I've got another idea for you to help you make 2024 your best, most productive, most
rewarding year ever.

Symptoms:
Elizabeth had just gotten the call every sales person hopes for each day. A target account in her territory reached out and asked that she come right away to help them with a big problem. Knowing her technical expertise could be very valuable in this situation, Elizabeth felt sure that winning the project was just a matter of not making a fatal mistake.

I want to bring a little sports analogy to the mix this week and get you to think about playing both offense and defense in your business development practice. Now, most people like to play offense because that's when the points are scored.

Symptoms:
After a long sales process finally appeared to be coming to a successful conclusion, Paul was breathing a sigh of relief until his client decided he wanted to extract some sweat from Paul for the win. Just when he thought it was over and done, the regional vice president chimed in with one last contract change that he claimed was a deal breaker if it wasn't accommodated.

I want to share an idea that another professional coach and close personal friend of mine had. We were up in Vermont a few weeks ago doing a little skiing, and one of the things I like to do when I visit my buddy Peter, is I like to trade ideas or concepts that we share with our clients.

Symptoms:
Melody and her boss just couldn't understand why she continued to struggle to close business. She was a very outgoing person who was extremely well liked by her customers. She went out of her way to be friendly to everyone and appeared to possess a good knowledge of her product and the selling process. Her failure to excel was confusing everyone.

It's not that late in the year… it's 2024, we're right at the end of February/first day of March basically, so I just wanted to throw a couple ideas out there to remind you to stop once again, make sure you've committed to what your goals are for this year and to think about all the different things that could happen, that might influence or impact how successful you are at accomplishing those goals.

Symptoms:
Mary was on one of her first sales calls as a new rep and the prospect, with his first question, invited her straight onto the Buyers Bus: "Tell me about your company and what you do".