A PMA Perspective… “LEADERSHIP ISN’T FOR COWARDS”
I love “LEADERSHIP ISN’T FOR COWARDS” by Mike Staver…speaker, writer, coach and genuine great guy. In his new book he explores the hidden fears that keep us from taking the quick decisive actions courageous leadership requires.
Mike says by definition all leaders “mess with people’s lives”. That’s why it is so important to make sure you’re leading from a place of clarity and awareness… leading from courage…and not letting your fears drive your decisions.
Many people are unaware of how profoundly fear influences their decision making. Mike says “You may be leading from a place of fear if the following applies to you…”
1. “YOU FREQUENTLY TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT!
Does bold, decisive action make you uncomfortable? There is no doubt that action drives results…Willpower doesn’t drive results and not even goals drive results…Action drives results…PERIOD”
2. YOU PRETEND YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ACTUALLY KNOW!
Pretending allows you to avoid pain and feel good in the short term but extracts a heavy price over time. Your job as a leader is to look reality in the face and accept it so that you can make the tough decisions that need to be made.
3. YOU FALL VICTIM TO THE “SHINY BALL” SYNDROME!
You are trying to focus on a serious project when a “shiny ball” rolls by… it may be an email, a phone call…you break away and choose the “shiny ball”. Many of us won’t say no to such distractions. If we can’t achieve focus and manage the deluge of information that comes at us every day, we’ll drown in the chaos. We will fail to do the important things and fail as a leader.
4. YOU HIDE BEHIND THE “I’M NOT QUITE READY” EXCUSE!
Leaders and organizations spend too much time getting ready to be ready to get ready to almost get ready to be ready to get ready…then form a committee to evaluate how ready they are…
Messy and quick is better than perfect and slow.
5. YOU’RE CONSTANTLY BLAMING OTHERS!
This is an energy draining, counterproductive way of dealing with difficult circumstances.
Acknowledge that you are ultimately responsible for the results of your life, thoughts, and actions. Create a level of freedom not experienced by those who choose to blame others.
6. YOU ARE TOO HARSH!
Do you recognize the achievements of your employees? If you don’t – or if you don’t do it properly – you will be unable to motivate your team. The idea is to celebrate your employee’s accomplishments without compromising their momentum. That means acknowledging progress with full and complete focus on success of what is right here, right now! If you withhold recognition until the goal is completely accomplished…you are being too harsh! If you qualify your recognition or take a little back after giving it…you are being too harsh.
7. YOU’RE AN OVER RECOGNIZER
On the other side of harsh are those who are ready to praise and encourage everybody for anything. Fake or false recognition comes across as inauthentic and actually erodes trust. You owe it to your followers to make your acknowledgments trustworthy.
8. MENTAL CLUTTER IS KEEPING YOU FROM NOTICING!
The more you fear, the more you try to do. The more you try to do, the more you have to think about it. You have more meetings, more call backs, more emails, more commitments. Once you can let go of some of the fear you can turn down some of the activities. This will free up time and space to do the things that inspire and invigorate you and your team. You need moments of peace and clarity. You need time to NOTICE! These moments will refresh you entirely to NOTICE that rest of your life.
I reprised these symbols of courage from Mike Staver’s fantastic new book “Leadership Isn’t For Cowards”. Available here…Don’t be afraid…order it now!
You may see a part of yourself in some of Mike’s insightful analysis. Certainly “Mental Clutter #8” is a challenge of mine. As we have expanded our markets into Western U.S and Canada, due to time zone changes my day doesn’t finish till well after 9PM EST… and the Mental Clutter is intensifying. I have to constantly take the time and space to eliminate the minutia and “NOTICE” the inspiration. Challenging yet possible…
A PMA SALES SECRET
This edition I asked Peter Comyns, a PMA cornerstone Manager for over 25 years, to give us an insight into understanding and identifying your prospects. This is what he said…
How much do you really know about your prospects?
As professional salespeople, we all know the importance of The Five Steps in Selling;
- Greeting a1nd Approach
- Pre-qualifying
- Demonstrating
- Post Qualifying
- Closing
All these steps are important however we often focus most of our time on steps 3, 4 and 5. Let’s re-evaluate our approach with steps 1 and 2.
No one is going to purchase a home from someone unless they like and trust them. How do we make that happen? Spend more time getting to know our guests that come into the sales office. Is our greeting “canned”…”Hi, is this your first visit?”, “Here is our price list and brochure.” …These are not greetings….that’s traffic control!
Welcoming them to the sales centre and asking if they have they visited us on the web? That provides you more information about your prospect, client and purchaser. “Did you have any trouble finding us today”? Start by finding out about them and their experience.
It’s not unusual for us to start pre-qualify regarding what they are looking for; “towns or semi’s”, “what size are you looking for”, three or four bedrooms”. Be different from the other sales offices they will visit.
What about finding out about them first… show an interest in them. Ask questions such as “Where do you live now?”, “How long have you lived there?”… “What a great neighbourhood”, “What is it about your current home that you really love?”. Compliment them on their previous buying decisions. This gives them a more positive feeling about themselves and you. Further you might ask, “If I could change one thing in your current home or neighbourhood, what would that be”. Now you start to uncover motivations for their visit and also showing interest in what they want, not a series of questions that start off like an interview.
Use the same comfortable approach as you would if you are having coffee or drink with a friend and wanted to find out how they were doing. Apply this to your selling conversation.
Make sure we step into their process as opposed to getting them into our process.
You’ll find in a short period of time, prospects become more engaged with you, making the balance of steps 3, 4 and 5 a much more natural process.
Make selling a conversation!
Thanks Pete, great insight…now the secret is to apply these sales secrets into your life with courageous action!
Live Positive
Andrew Brethour
If you could use a little PMA… connect with Andrew and his team at andrewb@pmabrethour.com or realdirt@pmabrethour.com.
