Sales Momentum #348 – This week: Labor thoughts, Definitions, Driving

GREG’S SALES MOMENTUM NEWSLETTER #348
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Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week.

In this issue:

– Thoughts on Momentum
– Being Human
– Random Stuff

Thoughts on Momentum
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• Humans are great at looking backwards, but not the best at forecasting the future. Next week is the future. We’re at the beginning of a new month. The perfect time to set up a preventative action. If you’re going out of town this weekend (Labor Day in the USA), make a list of 2 things that if you get done before next Tuesday’s done, will make you feel successful. Do it before you check out today.
• Not reviewing game tape slows growth. Taking the time to “inspect what we expect” speeds up results. It’s slow and laborious, but few tactics work better. 

• The studies show you’re happiest with your work when you feel like you’re in control of reaching assigned outcomes. Remember this as you manage your people.
• There’s a saying, “A starving man doesn’t care about a dirty plate.” It applies to management. A desperate manager doesn’t care if an employee is going against culture or dragging down co-workers. Address the desperation.

Being Human – Define terms
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“. . .I felt Morel had made a valid point somewhat confused by the fact that Smith seemed unaware that the word ‘theory’ is used differently in different fields.” – people on Twitter arguing

Socrates is said to have told us, “The beginning of wisdom is the defining of terms.” It’s brutal work, defining terms, but it’s necessary in most fields. Especially sales.

In workshops I’ve given an example of why we need to define terms using the CIO and CMO roles and their use of the word budget. It usually gets a chuckle because you can imagine a pocket protector wearing CIO versus a bright purple paisley vest wearing CMO, and how one sees budget strictly and the other sees budget as a suggestion.

This week it was a Twitter argument that caught my attention. An economist and a historian debating the merits of their respective disciplines. As a history major, and heavy reader of economics papers, I felt it in my bones. There is a lot of overlapping language used in these professions, and it’s easy for one to dismiss the other, although they actually rely on each other at times.

The whole kerfuffle could have been settled early by defining terms. Maybe. Sometimes people just like to argue.

Take a minute and define your terms. It takes time, but saves time in the long run. I swear.

Random stuff

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Labor Day weekend is approaching in the USA. In my neck of the woods it’s the last time the sunset will go beyond 8pm until next April. The seasons are pretty well-defined here and for me it’s a toss up between the entrance into fall or spring as to which time of year is my favorite.

No matter what time of year it is, the drivers here are terrible. I read a stat once that something like 75% of us think we’re above average drivers, but there is no way some of these people put themselves in this category. It seems like every time I go out I witness yet another bizarre decision being made by another driver. This week even my lovely bride experienced some erratic craziness bad enough that she pulled over to help. Until she saw the look on the drivers face and decided to keep going.

This event happened not too long after we attended the funeral of a beloved neighbor. She made it through over 90 trips around the sun, living a full life before we ever met. Her husband is still with us, but moved into a home because his memory is starting to fail. He’s still sharp in his own way, though. When my lovely bride said to him, “We loved Diane,” without missing a beat he said, “That makes two of us!”

At this time we’re preparing for the wedding of our middle child in a couple of weeks. Big life things. Births, deaths, weddings, are all around us. The wonders of life abound.

As if on cue, a friend sends me a photo of an obituary in The Economist for Albert Woodfox, titled, “What Freedom Means.” Albert’s life was quite different from my neighbor’s, but similar in the sense they are both remembered for what they did to improve the lives of their fellow humans. Exemplary men and women for others, as the Jesuit priest Father Pedro Arrupe said.

I doubt my neighbor Diane screamed obscenities at other drivers, but she probably thought some. Albert definitely said something.

There’s hope for me yet.

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