FranklinCovey-The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Sales Leaders

HABIT 4: THINK WIN-WIN

“The sequence matters, think their win first, then your win”

Expressing gratitude for specific contributions they’ve made, even small ones, can brighten their day. Conversely, small discourtesies, little unkindness’s, and subtle forms of disrespect make large withdrawals—often more than we realize. Sarcasm, joking at another’s expense, and ingratitude are a few of the more common withdrawals we make. An important deposit that’s especially needed in today’s hectic world is to remove interference in conversations. In other words, stop multitasking. If you were talking with me about something important to you— whether you were on the phone or you walked into my office— and I kept getting distracted by emails, texts, phone calls, and other people interrupting, in spite of my good intentions to listen to you the interaction turns into a withdrawal. Instead of doing a juggling act to help everyone with some need, the more effective path would be to completely hear and understand one person deeply. That means put everything down and rivet your eyes on the person in front of you, even if you’re on the phone and you can only do it figuratively. This is an important habit in internal face- to-face meetings, too! Too many people wander in and out of a conversation as they multitask. With a Client: If you were in a one-on-one meeting with a client, you would never think of reading emails or replying to texts on your phone while they were talking. You wouldn’t allow any distraction to get in the way. So why do that when we’re on the phone with them? We read emails while they talk, we glance over reports as they share, and we text our boss or another client while they complain about something that’s not right in how we’re serving them. The more

familiar we are, the sloppier we tend to be. Give them your undivided attention. It conveys how important the relationship is to you. Be prompt. That means be early. Yes, it is a small thing and yes, it gets noticed. If you’re late and then make excuses, it’s easy to assume you’ll make excuses for why you didn’t do what you said you would do later on the project.

to misunderstanding, disappointment, and withdrawals of trust. The deposit is to make expectations clear and explicit in the beginning. This takes a real investment of time and effort up front, but saves time and effort down the road. Then, when you have an accountability session, a balance of courage and consideration in your conversations is often required, because you may not agree with the other person’s self- accountability. Use Win-Win Performance Agreements: The underlying objective, discussed at length in previous articles in this series, is not to take responsibility away from people, but to keep them engaged and responsible. So much of the scripting in a sales organization is Win- Lose—from President’s Club to compensation to competition. Win-Win agreements keep responsibility squarely on the individual contributor instead of on you. With a Client: A simple and very helpful tool to strengthen client relationships is to have a meeting whose sole purpose is to clarify expectations before you embark on a project. Talk about what’s important to the client in a relationship. From their perspective, what would qualify someone as a strategic partner rather than a vendor (even a preferred vendor)? And in the spirit of Win-Win, what would you ask for? The second half of Win-Win is being clear about what you need and asking for it. What would make this client an enviable client to have and one you would never want to lose? #5 Showing personal integrity With the Team: Lack of integrity will undermine any other effort to create high-trust relationships. Integrity includes honesty,

being loyal to those who are not present, treating everyone by the same set of principles, and confronting (when necessary) rather than taking the course of least resistance to “be nice” or because you’re avoiding an uncomfortable situation. Never sacrifice integrity. With a Client: Sometimes ‘standing up’ to a client with courage and consideration is the most powerful way to strengthen your relationship with them. It also makes a huge deposit with your own team. #6 Apologizing sincerely when you make a withdrawal With the Team: Sincere apologies make deposits; repeated apologies perceived as insincere make withdrawals. And the quality of the relationship reflects it. While an apology doesn’t have to be public, don’t avoid making one in public to protect your image. With a Client: Clients deserve our best efforts, including sincere apologies when warranted. We often hold back for fear we will be taken advantage of or blamed for more than is fair (or possibly sued). This is a scarcity-mentality problem at its root, and it keeps us from rich relationships that are productive. Take responsibility for what you are responsible for and ask others, including clients, to do the same. Think Win-Win is a powerful way to shift your thinking before any interaction happens. But taking a Win-Win approach will be hard to achieve if you haven’t built trust with others first. The willingness of others to engage with you in a Win-Win way is directly affected by the balance in the emotional bank account you have with them. Simple, consistent steps increase trust and make Win-Win easier and more likely.

#3 Keeping Commitments With the Team: Keeping a

commitment or a promise is a major deposit; breaking one is a major withdrawal. In fact, there’s probably not a more massive withdrawal than to make a promise that’s important to someone and then not to come through. You should be careful about what commitments you make. If you’ve made one and broken it, see #6 below. With a Client: The same is true for clients. Make commitments and keep them—all of them. Get clients used to the fact that they can count on you; that if you say you will do something you do it rather than frequently give excuses for why you didn’t do it when you said you would. Even if you get it done, being late with a commitment tarnishes the relationship. If you knew clients could see the ‘GoPro’ footage of your day, how many of your excuses would suddenly be useless? Small things done repeatedly and well can form habits and lead to patterns of your life. Patterns build chains of strong character. #4 Clarifying Expectations With the Team: As Stephen Covey points out, every production problem or performance problem is an opportunity to enhance production capability. Unclear expectations lead

22 /

/ 23

Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs