Growth Dynamics Get Down

If you’ve ever taken a DISC assessment, you likely have a solid grasp on the “how” of your personal behavior. However, a key to success in all things is self-awareness and awareness of how others perceive you, not just how you perceive yourself.

Symptoms:

After having been in the same role for over 5 years, Ted was stuck. "What else can I talk about with these people that we haven't gone over all ready?" was the question Ted kept asking himself (with no answer) after he did a review of his clients. He knew he didn't want to be the pesky salesman that just made a meaningless follow up call, or who stopped in to drop off donuts and see what orders might be around to pick up, but he was also very aware that his manager expected him to keep growing the territory and expanding the accounts.

Back in January, Sarah Waple and I attended the annual Target Training International Conference. The conference always delivers great application insights for the science of Human Behavior that we incorporate into our programs at Growth Dynamics, and every year the team at TTI invites a key note speaker to address the close to 400 attendees. This year the speaker, Molly Fletcher, a sports agent out of Atlanta graced the stage and delivered a ten-bell message with humor, challenges and personal experience. I thought she was a great presenter with a great message.

Don’t Be That Guy.

Salesman.

Ego.

This time of year salespeople everywhere find it harder and harder to get opportunities started and closed as the marketplace seems to be focused on the impending holiday season and end of the year clean up. Decision makers are dealing with their budgets and planning for the coming year and making buying decisions don’t appear high on the priority list. My advice is to stop fighting this trend and join the party.

My work with my clients is constantly connecting me to their upstream and downstream market partners both directly and indirectly. As I review and replay the conversations I have with the people I support and coach, one idea keeps popping up; the idea of curiosity. Are we all curious enough to be as effective as we can and should be in our business and sales processes?

Too often the response I get when I ask a salesperson what their best sales trait is they will tell me it is persistence. I have to admit that my reaction isn’t what they, and most likely you, are hoping it will be.