Randell Gillespie

Reframe ATTITUDE! One of the best lessons on this is from Rejection Therapy, by Jia Jang in a TED talk. The attitude is always at the heart of failure. With the right attitude, failing becomes a lesson that leads to opportunity. The light bulb? The iPad? Ring? All of these were initially failing, but led to success by adapting an attitude of learning and growing from every failing. When you get a “no,” go deeper - confidently - and ask, “what would it take to get a yes?”. Sales slumps many times are due to our approach, confidence and ultimately attitude. People want to work with those with the right attitude and excited about what they are doing. It’s OK to have feelings as long as they never turn into a failure! Reframe your attitude.

Three easy steps can make all the difference: ask, do, show. A retired naval captain once shared with me that advice he received when he first joined the ranks as a junior officer in the Navy. First, go to your direct report and ask them what they expect of you. Get clarifications on specific results, activities or performance that can be measured. Then, do those things. Lastly, show them you are accomplishing these expectations. If they are things that take a longer period to accomplish, show the progress. As an executive myself, this would impress me to have someone come and ask me for the measurable results and expectations that I have. In itself, this builds trust and confidence, and shows you are willing to perform!

There are two principles that I believe are often overlooked, yet most powerful. First, teach how to create demand. Begin with listing the top five challenges and then facilitate brainstorming solutions to those problems. Sales skills are not as necessary when there is high demand for what you are selling. Second, go beyond things you like, and want. Focus on what you excel at. Sometimes sales people are fooling themselves. They like the idea of selling but are not good at it. Make sure you have the right people in positions, not because they like it or want it but because they are good at it. By adding these two misunderstood principles, you will no doubt, increase sales while also improving morale as people grow their success.

There is another consideration for sharing; the practice of reciprocity is psychologically valuable! It is a practice that not only creates greater productivity but also psychologically, it builds enormous trust, teamwork and sense of unity. It also creates a sense of commitment to one another through mutual benefit. Finding ways to enlarge ownership in something through sharing information and resources - reciprocity - without slowing down a process, means more buy-in, feedback and success.

Failure is always necessary for success. From Thomas Edison to Elon Musk, leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs alike embrace failures as a learning opportunity for greater success. One of my favorite presentations on this principle is titled “Rejection Therapy,” a now famous Ted Talk and training program. You will eventually find great success if you see every failure as a step closer to success. My own practice is to learn to analyze failures in detail, and have others with expertise you trust analyze with you. Narrow the learning to categories of Product issue, presentation issue, people or perception. Then you can work towards improving the performance and earning the win!

The best BRM will always show respect for the relationship through gratitude, consistent communication and humble transparency. When you connect in this way, you eliminate ego, anger and attitude that hinders a forward momentum partnership.