Categories: Sales Leadership
"We first make our habits, and then our habits make us." - John Dryden
With 2020 being the year it was, many of us have likely picked up some new habits - some great and a few we may want to leave behind. Habits are critical to being successful in sales. Being purposeful with your habits now can help you seize this year’s opportunities to achieve new goals, both personal and professional.
John Kaplan recently shared this post on LinkedIn around how he’s planning to clean up some habits rolling into 2021. It sparked a great conversation and a list of habits to aspire to in the new year. You may find them valuable too. Here are a few that were shared:
Manage Your Mindset:
"New habit in 2020 - Building stronger mindset." — Margaritis Karapelou, Enterprise Sales at Rubrik, Inc.
We couldn’t agree more, especially as we all continue to work remotely. Misunderstandings are much easier, video fatigue is a common struggle (especially for those with back-to-back meetings) and it’s hard to know how people are really doing. Productivity stems from your mindset. Get busy. Focus on being uncommon in 2021.
Be Purposeful
"Purposeful mindset management is always important, but never more so than in these times we are experiencing. Starting each day with a 5 minute 'gratitude journal' really sets the tone for the day." — Matt Curtin, Software Operating Executive
Set a focus on being purposeful with your time. Mornings may be a great place to start. Mike McGuinness, Chief Commercial Officer at Quick Base, also commented on John's post about the importance of his mornings with a focus on, “Early to bed, Early to rise”. He shared some spirit around how this mindset helps him get more done every day, saying “I think best in the AM. That’s MY time!”
When is the time you think best and how can you prioritize that time every day to get better work done?
End Today by Setting Yourself up for Success Tomorrow
"My new/old habit that was resurrected in 2020 was to write up my days notes fresh to solidify what happened that day AND to make a list of priorities for the next day. It makes for a restful night!" — Cal Francis, Strategic Sales at Vectra AI
What can you spend the last half hour of your day doing that will help you make a bigger impact, for yourself, your organization, or your coworkers? In this podcast, Patrick McLoughlin runs through what separates the best salespeople from all of the rest. His tips may spark inspiration amongst your salespeople of things they can do to move beyond mediocrity and end each day with a purpose.
Create Ways to Check in and Stay Involved:
A lot of comments on John’s post centered around being more present and involved with team members and coworkers. As you may already be aware, staying connected in the remote environment it is difficult. As a leader, you may be facing unique challenges of your own, as you work to offer transparency and ensure alignment between different regional teams.
In an article on “How to Lead Through Rapidly Changing Times” Jennifer Tejada, CEO and chairwoman of PagerDuty (and a successful customer of ours) talks about how she’s always finding ways to be present as a leader and driving success because of it. She says she was always walking the halls before the pandemic and now she’s finding ways to do that virtual by being present on Slack and in regular video calls.
Tejada stays connected to her organization’s people by, “constantly seeking direct feedback, admitting that as CEO you have to find ways to get employees to stop saying what they think leadership wants to hear and instead share what needs to be said.”
Set a Focus on Learning Something New on a Regular Basis
"Daily reading! I absolutely got away from reading on a daily basis in 2020. I found Kahneman’s 'Thinking Fast and Slow' on my bookshelf and started reading it again. Crazy how much I enjoyed it, as well as sharing it with some of my colleagues. Time well spent." — Chris Boyd, VP at DVBE Connect
It’s the 21st century, during a pandemic, so it’s safe to assume we’re all aware of the endless amount of digital content out there that could help salespeople drive better results. When there’s too many options, it can be hard to find credible sources, or avoid overcommitting yourself (anyone else have a cluttered inbox full of unnecessary emails?)
To make it easier to learn something new daily and share helpful content with sales teams we produce weekly episodes of the Audible-Ready Podcast. Each episode covers tips sales teams can use to make an immediate impact on the pipeline. Here are some of our most popular episodes amongst sales leaders:
- Why the best sales leaders go beyond compliance
- Creating an audible-ready sales organization
- New sales leader job? Here’s a roadmap to success
Your Roadmap to 2021 Success:
Whether you’re launching a sales initiative or defining what’s next for your sales organization, always ensure you’re leading from the front in a way that drives commitment to your new or shifted way of running the business. Big or small, any strategic change to your sales organization is daunting. Ensure you’re launching an initiative that sets a focus on lasting adoption and consistent execution. Here are our best resources for successfully launching a sales initiative in the new year.
