Engagement - Selling Down

Take a minute to think about what gets you out of bed in the morning.

 

Now put on your empathy hat and think about what gets your people out of bed in the morning. What gets them to show up day after day? 

 

The culture? The value of the work? The difference they are making in the world?

 

Or is it the paycheque? Your bottom line? Fear of being fired for not showing up?

 

Your motivation for showing up and giving what you give every day should reflect in your people. If done right, your vision, energy, and respect for the work you do will be contagious and that enthusiasm will leak throughout the company.

 

There is a stereotypical picture of leadership: An old white dude sitting at a big desk surrounded by files and scotch. That's not good enough anymore. Strategies come from the bottom up. To lead, you must engage. Today's leader is surrounded by people and doesn't need a desk. Today's leader sits in the passenger's seat of employees' cars to learn about their sales process first hand rather than assuming they know how things go or ignoring the people on the ground.

 

How are you selling your message to your team? Do they get trained on how it's going to be, or do they get to be a part of that process? This applies to your customers as well. Market research, charts, graphs, and demographics can only tell us so much about our customers. To best serve your customers, you need to get into the market and ask people what they want.

 

I have more thoughts on this topic that I will continue on in a later blog – stay tuned.