Take Ownership Without Over-Engineering

Salespeople: These three principles may help you take ownership of your day, month, or year, without having to over-engineer the process.  

#1 Have An Idea

Before they stepped-up to bat, my friend's childhood baseball coach would tell the players to "Have an idea!"

Don’t hope everything works out - expect everything to work out.
Have strategy, or plan, or idea, and you’ll set proper expectations - for yourself, your team, your prospects and customers.

Your moves must be calculated, measured, and meaningful; otherwise, you’re like a kid on the playground at recess.

#2 Success Is Something You Attract

Success is something you attract, it’s not something you pursue.
Brand yourself, as well as the advantages of your offering, and attract your prospects and customers.

It’s not an ego or vanity play; it’s to be interesting to others and to become infectious, so people "must" work with you. The result is you and your offering becoming indispensable. The more value you add, the more valuable you become.

#3 Great Leaders Inspire Action

Great leaders inspire action. A strong example of this is Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle, which starts with the why, then the how, then the what.

It’s one thing to know how to prospect, but it’s entirely different to actually prospect. What we say we’ll do and what we do must align. Prospects have finely-tuned b.s. meters, and they’ll sense whether or not you walk the talk...so walk it.

Sinek explains:

• Every organization on the planet knows what they do
• Some organizations know how they do it
• Yet, very few organizations know why they do what they do

The last thing you want to do is embark on the year (or day, or week, or month, or quarter) linearly. Rise above, see it from a higher level, and work your plan.