It’s a new year, which always means a fresh start, new opportunities, and, hopefully for you, a new role.  And while most of you aren’t formally taking on new leadership roles, I would like to suggest that you increase the scope and impact of whatever role you currently fill in your organization to the point of it effectively being a “new role” for you. 

Over the next several weeks, I will touch on 10 challenges you should consider as you embrace a 2012 that will allow you to have a greater impact on your own responsibilities and results, as well as for those around you.  As I do so, I will borrow from a book I read last year, The First 90 Days: Critical Success Stories for New Leaders by Michael Watkins.

First Challenge – Promote yourself.

This doesn’t mean to go on a campaign of self-promotion, rather it means that you need to mentally elevate yourself to the role to which you have actually been promoted or to which you aspire to create as your “new role”.

Define the role - Start by defining your new role in a way that will allow you to contribute to the organization the greatest value of which you are capable.  Be careful to not fall into a trap of thinking that just doing more of what has made you successful to this point will drive success in your new role.  Any new/elevated role will require new behaviors and skills.  Honestly assess where you have a gap and identify how you will fill it in.

Stop and then start - As you identify and commit to doing the new tasks that will make you successful, be realistic of the additional time they will require.  Since there is no way to create additional time, you are going to have to make time on your calendar.  Before you can decide what you will start doing, you have to decide what you will stop doing.  Look for those activities that could be done just as well, or maybe even better, by someone else.  Also, be honest and let go of activities that only keep you busy but aren’t producing results.

Be specific with milestones- Be very clear, painfully honest, and specific about the new skills and behaviors your “new role” will require. You may find it necessary to start setting even more specific milestones than you’ve previously set.  Describe in detail what will you accomplish this week, month, quarter.

Finding success means preparing yourself to fail – I don’t mean big picture failure. What I mean is that you need to prepare yourself in advance for the inevitable setbacks that will occur.  Know that they will happen and don’t panic when they do.  By anticipating setbacks, you will put yourself in a much better position of looking at them as a time to recommit and re-evaluate rather than a time to abandon your plan.

It takes a tribe - Establish as many accountability advisors as possible.  Find the individuals with whom you are going to share your vision of your new role, and ask them to hold you accountable for your progress.  Be sure this group includes people who can and will mentor you into your new role.

The key to all of this is to identify what success looks like and then create a disciplined plan of improvement to make that your reality.

Acceleration Checklist as suggested in The First 90 Days:

1. What has made you successful so far in your career?

Can you succeed in your new role by relying solely on those strengths? If not, what are the critical skills you need to develop?

2. Are there aspects of your new role that are critical to your success but that you prefer not to focus on?

Why is that the case?

How will you compensate for your potential blind spots?

3.    What do you need to do to ensure that you make the mental leap into the new position?

From whom might you seek advice and counsel on this?
What other activities might help you do this?

Photo by iwona_kellie.

@kevintrokey

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We have all heard not to sweat the small stuff.  I don’t necessarily think that’s bad advice, but I think that the “smaller than small” stuff can make all the difference in the world.

Think about Michael Phelps victory in the 100 meter butterfly during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.  He won by 1/100th of a second.  Think about all of the smaller-than-small stuff that could have made the difference.  It could have been where he happened to be during his stroke as he approached the wall, maybe it was the timing since his last workout, maybe it was the amount of sleep the night before, maybe it was last half cup of coffee at breakfast.  The difference between gold and silver could have been the result of countless seemingly insignificant details.  Chances are, the difference wasn’t one smaller-than-small detail, but, more than likely, it was the combination of many.

What are the smaller-than-small details that can make a difference for you?  Here are some ideas you can implement that, as simple as they are, will make you stand out.

• Hand-write a note.
• Answer the phone on the first ring (instead of letting it go to voicemail).
• Call (Instead of sending an e-mail).
• Catch someone on your staff doing something right.
• Look someone in they eye and say “thank you for what you did, you made my day easier/more enjoyable/memorable”.
• Make 1 more prospecting call.
• If you promised it by 1:00, deliver it before lunch.

None of these are monumental, but that’s exactly my point.  Given the nature of typical service today, any one of these could be the smaller-than-small detail that makes a difference for your success.  Problem is, you never know which one it will be, and, you may never even know when it made a difference.  However, make a habit out of paying attention to the details when your competition doesn’t, and your success will follow.

What’s the smaller-than-small detail that you find makes a difference?

Photo by popofatticus.

I hear benefit producers complain about fourth quarter all the time.  They talk about how crazy it is, there are so many renewals to handle, there just isn’t enough time for everything.  The complaints go on and on and all of a sudden they have themselves convinced that there isn’t time to get everything done, and something has to go.  Unfortunately, they usually choose prospecting as the first thing to eliminate.

Yeah, fourth quarter is busy, I get that, but prospecting is just about the last thing a producer needs to ignore.   If you let up on your prospecting activity for the last three months of the year, you are digging yourself a hole that will make the following year much harder than it needs to be. 

When you look at what makes the most successful producers successful, you will always see a steady approach to prospecting.  Producers who only prospect when their pipeline is empty have inconsistent results and find themselves working on any account who will listen, which are often the wrong ones.

Make the 4th quarter more manageable and successful

By understanding what needs to be eliminated and what needs full focus, not only will the fourth quarter be more manageable, the next year will be more successful, as well.

Do Not…

o    Get involved in routine service issues
o    Spend time in carrier discussions about every renewal and every option
o    Allow yourself to be random about how you schedule your week

DO…

o    Maintain your focus to manage a hectic 4th quarter
o    Hold yourself accountable for both quality and quantity of prospects in your pipeline
o    Block out time every day for prospecting
o    Identify your weekly “have tos” and dedicate time on your weekly calendar for their completion

I’ll argue that with proper discipline you do have time for everything you need to be doing - even in the 4th quarter.  The key phrase is “need to be doing”.  The things that you won’t get done are just busy work you shouldn’t be doing anyway.

Really, these “do nots” and “dos” are rules you should follow all year long, but with the craziness of 4th quarter, you just don’t have a choice.  And because your competition won’t find the discipline they need, and will let their prospecting efforts go, is exactly the reason that it's time for you to push your sales efforts harder than ever.

Selling is a 4-quarter game.  If the offense doesn’t take the field for all 4 quarters, it’s an impossible game to win.

Photo by shortchineseguy.