The puzzle is still a work in progress...

Some themes of week ending 10/23/2020

1) Mindset over tactics all day every day.

2) 2020 has been the year of the creative sales professional.

3) Open your books to your customers.

This week some things just hit you different. When you scroll through LinkedIn it's tactic city. It's advice alley. It's a wide firehose of noise. It's at scale and it's clear. There's so much noise that there's definitely more skimming then deeply consuming the messages flashing in front of your face.

While I am seeing tactic over tactic and "best practices disguised as tactics" galore, I realize a part of my brain has shut off downloading & caring about them. To me I have never found success with tactics. The definition in itself is a turnoff: "an action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end". Sounds dirty.

I like: put in effort, try, see what works, see what doesn't work, try, meet, learn WHY, be yourself, be human, follow up, keep your word, and genuinely learn about people. My thesis in business is people are the game, the jury and the executioner. Companies don't make decisions but people within companies do. It's not about rigging your way to a win, it's about understanding people and their business, and then letting timing and talent drive home the win or loss.

Switching gears...

2020 has been a hell of a year and it's still going. Outside sales has become inside sales. Inside sales has become even more "inside". As cable TV is now being strongly challenged by the cellular and streaming world, the sales game has also become exclusively a cellular and social world world. Offices are empty. There are no "walkovers" while onsite anymore. There is no dialing customers and prospects on their desk lines. It's email. It's text. It's messaging them on social platforms. It's all done via the thing in your pocket every day. Creativity, consistency, & context are the gateways to conversations that can lead to continued relevance and wins.

Creativity, consistency, & context

Lastly, being transparent once again wins. I had a nice conversation yesterday with a contact of mine and we just haven't aligned on something new together. It's been a little to the right or left. During our call I pulled up the last month and half of activity and we went through it fully. Client names, type of potential work, timelines, etc. It was a great exercise that again showed commitment and transparency. Good stuff.

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Roger