Across the board, I have witnessed a plague among sales professionals and at times sales leaders. The talent seems there. The structure aligned or aligning. The solution valuable. Yet, the sellers fall short in reaching targets, meeting quotas and scaling goals.
The issue often boils down to something missing among salespeople and overall culture: a lack of urgency.
A Lesson From the Evolution of the Pit Stop
Before we move forward, watch this two-minute video to witness the difference between a team that acts with precision and urgency and a team that appears busy but is methodical in reaching their objective.
The first takeaway from the video you just watched was the elapsed time difference between these two pit stops. Certainly the modern pit stop was faster than the 1950s pit stop.
Yet, taking note of the time difference is just part of the insight this example can provide. The modern pit stop crew’s decreased time it took to get its car optimized can be attributed to a number of things. There are more-modern tools than there used to be. A number of years have passed since the ’50s for best practices to be solidified and passed down to today’s generation. Perhaps there is more at stake in these modern races than there used to be.
The real beauty that can be witnessed in the modern pit stop crew’s urgency is the orchestration of every crew member.
The 1950s pit crew has more members. Every member is bustling around with activity. Yet, the modern crew manages to leave this 1950s crew in the dust with fewer team members.
And how they manage this centers around a theme of purpose.
Busyness Versus Purposeful Orchestration
In too many companies, most sellers and their leaders confuse busyness with purposeful orchestration.
Busyness often masquerades as activity. While activities are important — that is to say, no activity results in no sales — not all activities are equal.
A seller who makes call after call or sends email after email to a non-targeted buyer is falling into the trap of busyness. While a different seller targeting their activities toward serving a targeted, qualified buyer is executing with purposeful orchestration.
When every seller can perform under the guidance of the latter, then the entire revenue performance system is optimized and ready to race across the finish line ahead of its competition.
Win the Race
As is true for the modern pit crew, today’s sellers are equipped with better tools and insightful best practices. Yet, sellers — and especially under the accountability of their leadership — need to practice under a different cadence of activity that is driven by purpose and not by busyness.
For help in leading your sales team out of the 1950s busyness into the modern approach of purposeful action, contact us.