“None of us can win at everything all the time.” – Scott Ingram in today’s Tip 1042
Are you on a losing streak?
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today I want to talk about losing, because none of us can win at everything all the time. At some point you’re going to find yourself with a series of losses behind you. You’re probably asking yourself, Scott, what prompted this sudden talk about losing with all of your focus on success? Well, you can blame my University of Texas Longhorns for that.
Today I’ll be headed to Darrell K. Royal-Memorial Stadium here in Austin with my Sales Tech Expo Co-Founder, Richard Balius, to see if the horns can end their 6 game losing streak in this final game of the regular season against the Kansas State Wildcats. Texas hasn’t had a losing streak like this since 1956. Hopefully, you’re not dealing with anything quite that brutal, but let’s talk about the turnaround and what you need to do because maybe you or somebody you know is just having a really off year.
I think the first thing to do is admit that there’s a problem. Acknowledge that you’re losing. I know we tend to be optimistic in sales and I’ve done this myself where I’ve hit a rough patch, but haven’t been willing to acknowledge it. Start there, but don’t just say there’s a problem. Try to understand the core of the problem. What’s really going on? What’s at the heart of this particular challenging stretch? Don’t be too hard on yourself though. I had a great leader who encouraged us to “see the truth, but not for worse than it is.” You might need some help with this. You might need to lean on some more objective observers who can help you see what’s really going on, because it’s entirely possible you’re too close to the problem to really see it. You’re probably overly involved emotionally as well. Find somebody who’s a little more detached who can help.
Getting there is probably the most important part, because once you understand that root cause, now you’ve got something to work on. What part of this can you control. Control your controllables, build a plan to overcome the issue. Finally, I think you need to set up a system that focuses on and rewards the inputs. Again, focus on the things you can control and build your scorecard around those. The outcomes and the results are often lagging indicators. You need to put your energy into the predictive indicators. Now get into action and start to build momentum.
You might want to refer to my tip from last weekend #1037 where I talked about just that. Hopefully, that helps. It’s not directly connected, but tomorrow’s tip might also be helpful for you if you find yourself trying to break through and break out. Sometimes it’s about the little things, not the big things. The big things come when you nail a lot of little things. Now as for the Longhorns. Not much I can control there other than to continue to cheer them on through thick and thin. Hook ‘Em Horns!