How many of us are striving to hit the next level of sales and personal performance? How often do we get caught in a rut and no matter how hard we push, things just don’t seem to work out? Sometimes the persistent use of sheer force works. But force can’t be relied upon as the only way forward. And quite often it simply makes things worse.
It’s at these moments when a fresh perspective is what’s needed. Often times a pair of fresh eyes or astute ears will do the trick.
Some important questions which you should pose to yourself and your team are:
- If you knew 100% that you could not fail what new project or company direction would you take?
- If money were no option what would you do next?
- Who would you hire?
- What type of research would you conduct?
- What professional training or team-building exercise would you invest in?
Once you and your team are fully invested in exploring these questions. You’ll soon find some exciting ideas and positive energy starting to emerge.
This exercise will get everyone moving in a new direction. Once the momentum picks up you will start to tackle “how” you can make these things happen.
Now is the time to “Get Creative”, not everything requires extra funds. Some things just take a helluva lot of ingenuity and the desire to ask. Start looking and you will often discover exactly what you wanted. Business funding, government programs, grants, angel investors are all out there looking for fresh energy and innovative ideas.
This is how you made things happen in the beginning of your life’s search. When you ventured out for the first time you didn’t have too many resources but a whole lot of gumption.
It’s this kind of motivation that spurred you on at the beginning of your life’s journey. This early energy encouraged you to explore the world and find new opportunities. This is what got you where you and your organization are today. And it’s this kind of energy and fun exploration that will take you to the next level.
Don’t worry too much about rejection or seemingly persistent failure. I love the story about Jack Ma, Founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. When he was young and looking for work, he applied for 30 jobs without any luck. He even applied to KFC when it opened up in his city, out of 24 applicants 23 were accepted and poor Jack was the odd man out.
He was again rejected in 2001 when he tried raising 3 million in venture capital in the USA. Last year, he was able to successfully raise a bit more from his IPO, a mere 25 billion; not too bad for a boy who was rejected from KFC and the police force when he was younger and searching for his place in this world.
How ironic considering that the man himself, Colonel Sanders at the spritely age of 65 had to pitch nearly 1000 restaurants to land his first recipe deal.
Thus the last little kernel of business wisdom is to persist in the worthwhile fight. One must continually push and pull both themselves and their team to reach the next level. Whatever and wherever that next level might be.
Dominic Kotarski – International Consultant, author of “The Making” – A Complete Sales & Team-building Guide and Founder of Sales Success Academy.
