Has this ever happened to you?

You’re looking at your numbers and year over year, you don’t see any movement in your top-line revenue?

This could be an indication that your business is overly dependent on YOU for its sales.

You might think - of course - I’m the only one who can do sales! — and there’s the issue. For companies with teams there are more options to have others involved in connecting with customers and owning a piece of sales.

For soloprenuers, there are other considerations but there are definitely things to consider and focus on for both types of business owners to get you moving in the right direction.

Listen in for what those are…

When I was younger I loved to dance. (Well I still do, but I actually took lessons and performed in my youth). What I admired about professional dancers was their athleticism, their grace and their superb amounts of skill. The way they could capture an audience and tell a story through movement.

What I learned was in order to get to be so skilled and master their craft, they practiced all the time and often practiced the basics. Like a musician mastering and warming up with scales. It’s the foundational steps and method that help them to hone their craft. It’s focussing on the foundations of their craft that built the muscle memory and capacity that they have today. The ballet dancers always came back to their pliés.

When I hear and speak to business owners and founders today who want to grow their companies, some of them have all sorts of plans and initiatives. I always love hearing about their plans and vision. It’s inspiring. Until I hear about their method…

This sometimes feels so elusive - where are they? How do I get more?

If you’ve been in business for a while then you actually have some data to draw on. Instead of looking outward, look inward to your previous experiences.

These experiences can tell you a LOT about how to find more clients/customers like the ones you already have. It can be a great source of information for you.

Have you ever heard the quote:

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them” by Albert Einstein?

Einstein suggests that shifting how we look at things provides us with the clarity to find solutions. In order to shift our thinking though, understanding our behaviours can help identify how we think or feel about things. So, let’s look at your leadership behaviours.

First, what do I mean about next level behaviour?

This is the higher level behaviours we use when we are at our best selves and step into a more evolved or expanded version of the role we are striving to inhabit.

As an example, for the business owner, next level leadership behaviour may come when you consider what you would do if you thought about what your business needed from you. Or, what you would do if fear wasn’t in the way?

What behaviours would you need to lean into more fully in order to execute in a critical area? This could be what your business needs to enhance it’s marketing or sales process, for example. Or, it could be what’s needed to improve any process in your business, for that matter.

As a business leader there are behaviours that contribute to the success of your business and there are behaviours that are neutral (may not have an impact either way) and then some that may even put up challenges to achieving success.

Here are some behaviours I have observed that can prevent us from evolving in our leadership effectiveness:

In my years of working as a sales professional and teaching sales at a Fortune 500 company, I've seen people held back by their own self-diagnosed assessments that they 'can't sell' or don't know 'how to sell'. 

I now coach people who are promoting their small businesses or in career transition and I've seen trends that can make a big impact to your personal sales process (whether selling your skills, product or service).