When my team in Buffalo had hit its lowest ranking, we developed bad habits which had affected our attitudes. We had been in the habit of making a lot of excuses as a team. At the time, we were not on contract with many of our major buyers. These negotiations happened with one specific person in another department. We blamed that department, the customer and even our government for the inability to go forward. We shifted the blame to things we didn’t think we controlled.
While it is true there are external factors which can affect any industry, the truth is, as Leaders of Character, we have the Duty to exercise Positivity and control the factors we CAN influence.
Our attitude is one of them. So is ownership.
We changed. As a result, when we started the climb out of our #72 ranking-we made significant, positive changes.
Again - The first person who needed to change was me.
For starters, I began to take more ownership and our team did too. I stopped focusing on where we couldn’t get the business and switched to where we could. So yeah, maybe 60% of where we used to get sales wasn’t available because of an external situation. But, that meant there was still 40% we could target and target well.
As we focused on what targets we could go for, we saw success. Why? Because we chose a healthy form of Positivity which accepted the constraints we were under, yet looked for the opportunities still out there.
Did it mean more work? Yes. But, we had come to a point where our team had learned how to hustle in the niche markets. As we wondered how we could grow inside open areas—instead of just whining in where we couldn’t grow—and took an attitude of Positivity with us into those areas, we found a way to meet our goals.
Also, I recognized the need to stop blaming my counterpart who was responsible for negotiations. I started to ask what I could do to make myself available. I began to think of him as partner. We worked together to solve the issues he was facing. Not immediately – but over time, we got more and more clients under contract.
My world was a sales world. Maybe you are in government, law enforcement, marketing or something else. But, these principles are true no matter what industry we are in. External factors change our workflow and opportunities all of the time. It’s easy to slip into negativity - but what if you could look for opportunities? Positivity gives you that outlook.
Thinking about attitudes and how to exercise Positivity is just the beginning of the training we have crafted for you and your team. We would love to come alongside you and help to sharpen your team. Click here for more details.
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