Seeing Above the Tree Line
One of my coaching clients is a wholesaler for a mutual fund company. Even though she works for a big company, she is really an entrepreneur, running the show in her territory. Needless to say, in today’s market climate, her business has never been more challenging. Some of the lessons from her business certainly apply to the high-tech entrepreneurs.
A key problem is an inherent conflict in the nature of her business: financial wholesalers tend to be transaction-driven (working hard so that their clients will ‘drop a ticket’–and hopefully a very big ticket, resulting in a commission); while the financial advisers (FAs) they call on are relationship-driven. FAs used to be brokers and were compensated on transactions, too, but that’s less and less the case. Nowadays, they are more likely to be paid on a fee-basis, collecting a percentage of an investor’s assets under management.
Last week my client drove six hours to make a 10-minute sales presentation. Obviously it was a critical meeting and we are waiting for the sweet sound of a big ol’ ticket dropping, which I am sure it will. But she definitely is overwhelmed with having to keep up with an opportunistic market. Our conversation turned to a couple of things:
To rise above opportunism with clients and customers, see the bigger picture–theirs and yours. When my client stepped back to reflect on how she wants her clients to view her, she envisions herself as a trusted advisor and true business partner. That’s her brand statement.
I asked her, Why is it so important on a day-to-day basis for you to think about how your brand is expressed and simultaneously how that fits into your long-range goals? Her answer was: So that I can have a business within five years that is 100% referral-based, where I will never make a cold call on someone I haven’t been introduced to through a strong connection.
That is every salesperson’s ideal state, and it is totally achievable.
Stepping back to see beyond the tree line is critical. You have to really know your motivation for what you are doing in business day-to-day. And you need to remind yourself, daily, why you are doing what you are doing. Come up with a phrase, a mantra of sorts, that you tell yourself every day. Something meaningful that drives your behavior and outlook. Tell it to yourself at the same time each day. Write it down and tack it on your bulletin board or the dashboard of your car. When you think about your vision, don’t judge yourself on whether you executed it well today or wasted your time. If you reminded yourself of your vision, yesterday and today, and again tomorrow, you are moving closer to it.
Contributing blogger Mitch York is a personal friend of The VAR Guy. York coaches executives who are evolving into entrepreneurs. Find York — and his personal blog — at www.e2ecoaching.com.
