December 2023, Vol 1
Time Investment: 3-5 Minutes
THE BOTTOM LINE
Diligence creates the stamina required to reach higher tiers of revenue.
The culture of every sales organization comes down to ‘the way we do things around here.’ So, when salespeople get deals done by any means necessary to meet their quota, those behaviors—good and bad, get institutionalized.
While this individuality may be enough to inch over the finish line in Q4, it isn’t strengthening the organizational infrastructure required to reach higher levels of growth. For that, you need to anchor your sales organization to something strong, stable, and resilient.
Consider the 10 Dimensions of Diligence as a set of operating principles to serve as that anchor. The first five: Growing Relationships, Situational Intelligence, Securing Information, Intentional Listening and Persuasive Communication are pure sales effectiveness. The second set: Personal Ownership, Time Planning, Service Mindset, Winning Drive and Inner Resolve are all about cultivating leadership at any level. What would it look like if everyone in your sales organization, from the top down were steeped in those capabilities?
10 Dimensions of Diligence Infographic
In this month’s resource, we’ve created an infographic that illustrates diligence. Consider what it would look like in your organization if these were the operating principles for your team. Download the infographic here
Growing Revenue Starts with Growing Yourself as a Leader
Intro: Candid feedback can be channeled into a competitive advantage for wise leaders. But for many, it takes courage to solicit game-changing insights. Most prefer to play it safe.
Actionable Idea: As you wind down this year find three people who you don’t normally engage. Make it safe for them to share feedback – either directly or indirectly.
Ask: What’s one thing I did this year that surprised you and why? Embrace any uncomfortable emotions and sleep on the feedback. You need this type of exchange to level up your effectiveness as a growth leader.
Well, it’s a mad dash for end-of-year revenue. No doubt that with 2024 kick-off planning underway, aggressive pipeline tracking happening daily, white elephant parties penciled in, and PTO time scheduled – you have your hands full.
I am a born and raised, Philadelphia native and that means riding the emotional roller coaster of being an Eagles fan. While their record is impressive this season, most of their games have been downright fugly – yet they’ve (mostly) found a way to win.
Despite the injuries, turnovers and stupid penalties, they’ve usually made just enough plays to get it done. However, if they want to reach the Superbowl again this year and win – they will need to tighten up the fundamentals and play all four quarters of the game. That’s my forecast for our sales organizations too. If we are going to grow revenue despite shifts in the marketplace, buyer mindsets and the disruptive threat of AI rolling onshore, we’ll have to do more to fortify our operation than just finding a way to win each quarter. Let’s do this!