Blog

For as long as I can remember, I’ve thought in pictures and images. Every time someone is explaining something to me or sharing a dream, vision, or goal, a picture forms in my mind. Along with a single descriptive word. And a feeling.

Anybody else?

Knowing that tells me that when the picture, word, and feeling are not in alignment, something is off. And more clarity is needed.

It also tells me some discernment may be needed. Is this a clarity issue? Or a timing issue? Remember a “not yet” is not a “no”. Sometimes, we still have things to learn, or the world isn’t ready for the idea, product, service, or shift just yet.

Remember the asymmetrical skirt everyone? I first drew that picture when I was about 11 years old. It finally came into fashion decades later.

How about now there’s a “checklist” for our well-care? I asked my doctor for a “preventative maintenance checklist” when I was 26. My thought was my car has one, why don’t I as a human? She looked at me like I was nuts, but now, it’s common place.

How about the drive to discipline and quality in our sale efforts? Of humanizing the experience? That has been my approach and mantra for over 25 years. I’m happy to see it’s making a comeback, and the pendulum is swinging to tangible, concrete, discipline-based motions in our sales programs.

I’ve been told I’m too intense, too focused, too high energy, too much, etc.

Today, I’m ignoring that feedback because that feedback tells me we’re not a good match. (I get the whole “read your audience, you’re responsible for the impact of your words, etc.)

Today, I’m doubling down on discipline, strength, raising my own expectations to live out my own purpose statement, which is:

To make the world a better place, one sales team at a time.

Because, after all, the motto for iSbD is:

Be Deliberate

Be Intentional

Be Successful

Success is not an accident. It takes persistence, patience, and saying yes when it feels good to say no (like lying in bed those extra few minutes, or NOT making the one last phone call).

If you’re ready to add discipline to your sales org and yourself, this message is for you and your team.

If you’re ready to dive in and perform a gap analysis and audit of your current sales structure, I’ll send you our worksheets. Send me a message and I’ll send our transformation worksheets.

If you’re ready to give your team a promotion path and attract better people to your org, get my book to help identify skill sets, systems, processes, and an implementation path to make it possible. You can find it on Amazon, https://a.co/d/iO810mA

Here’s to 2024, being the best version of ourselves and bringing the best out in others to make our interactions the best they can be today and in the future.

As we enter into a brand-new year, we’re all experiencing a couple of things.
😁 Joy
🙄 Relief from 2023
✨ Excitement for a New Year!
📣 Optimism

How do we keep that going? How do we ride the positive wave of emotion to higher profits, more revenue, a more connected team, better leads, be a better partner to our partners? And so much more.

Notice the theme? More and better. I think that’s where we all are. How do I get better so my team can get better? What needs to happen differently in 2024 than it did last year, two years, ago, etc.

That’s where I am and I’m quite sure I’m not the only one. So, join us as we embark on a year of learning to communicate effectively in the new year, drive awareness in a noisy marketplace, connect with others more authentically, and grow our businesses in both revenue, profitability, and sustainability.
If that sounds like you, join me on January 16th at 10am for our first virtual workshop of the year. Register now and see you soon – Virtual Focus Group – Inside Sales by Design

There’s a lot of chatter around employees, work ethic, leadership, etc. and in talking with leaders, one of the questions I ask is: Have you created a team or club?

The response is usually a pause, a minute of a blank stare, a nod, and then direct eye contact with their follow up question of “what do you mean?”

I respond, a club is somewhere you go to feel good and be comfortable. And we don’t grow when we’re comfortable. A club is a place of no accountability and no consequence.

A team is a group of people with shared purpose, passion, and personal responsibility. Expectations are clear and we hold each other accountable to and for our purpose.

As we enter the end of 2023 and continue planning for 2024, my question for all of us is: Have you created a team or club?

Curious about which one you have? Or want to learn more? Curious about how to mobilize your team and create a motivating environment? Are you wondering if your current program is effective, or know if would be great to take all of your tribal knowledge and turn it into a playbook?

Then we should talk because that’s exactly what we do, and we can help. Book your session today and let’s see what we can accomplish together in 2024.