Miller Heiman Group is running ads with the theme “Why We Love Selling”. Taken together, the theme is helping individuals achieve success in selling careers to open up more options in their lives.
Here is a link to a YouTube page containing some of them:
Personally, these certainly resonate with me.
Star in Your Own Ads:
As good as these ads, let’s create some personalized “ads” of your own:
Awards Night:
Imagine you’re a sales executive, handing out sales awards. You know that these performers are the stars of the moment, and your public recognition of them is combined with quiet pride at their achievements. You can afford to be modest: the whole company knows why sales performance has risen. Their success is definitely yours.
Promotion Announcement:
Imagine a “mental video” montage of yourself as sales leader announcing well-earned promotions:
- A high-performing salesperson is now a newly-minted front line sales manager. You have tools at the ready to help this person succeed in perhaps the most difficult transition in all of business, and both of you are ready to get to work on taking their career the next step.
- A front line sales manager is now Director. They have learned how and why teams succeed, and now they are ready to coach your coaches. Most important, you have a system to get them there fast and effectively.
- Congratulating one of your Directors on their lateral move within the company – where travel demands match a changed family situation. You know that the company’s newfound respect for its sales organization paved the way for him to stay “in the family” and keep contributing in a completely new function.
- Your sales operations lead advances into a newly-created, more important role in the company around sales performance management and sales enablement. This person is your great growth partner, and together you have built a solid plan to grow their role while together you grow your company.
This is What Success Looks Like
Imagine yourself looking back on recent history, recalling that the processes and systems you applied. They proved themselves right away, so you had momentum to build on. Better, you know how and why your systems are repeatable and self-sustaining. Your selling culture is customer-value-driven, so the “true north” of your customers drives your continuous improvement efforts. A solid progression and succession apparatus finds, then develops a flow of great sellers, managers, leaders, and executives. It wasn’t always easy, but a trusted partner helped you every step of the way.
Perhaps you recall yourself as a newly-installed Vice President of Sales. Immediately, you needed to show fast results, to raise the stature of the selling organization, and to get the most out of an existing team. Critically, you needed serious organizational change, but wanted to implement change with a rock-solid track record. You knew when you’d found the right partner, and you were right.
How does watching these mental videos feel? Pretty good, right?
My View of Your Ads
Now imagine how that partner feels. You experienced a lot together. Do you think he swells with pride at the results of the journey you’ve taken together?
I can tell you: yes. That partner looks at those same vignettes…from a slightly different camera angle, but with immense pride in you. That partner is thankful to have contributed value to your journey, and to have guided your path along the way. I can guarantee from first-hand experience that partner loves what they do right then.
I chose my profession to produce your vignettes…pretty cool, isn’t it?
Want to talk?
As always…to your success.