As a professional salesperson, just how responsible are you? Responsibility, like trust, is earned. Responsible people are more respected, more admired, and more successful than those who are irresponsible. It’s just a fact of life. Here are a couple ideas on how you can become more responsible, and in turn achieve more as a newspaper advertising advisor:
Responsibility is dealing with difficult and unexpected issues.
The world of advertising sales is ever changing. One never knows what to expect from day to day. Professional salespeople find effective ways to deal with adversity and overcome obstacles. Successful salespeople find ways to make lemonade out of lemons.
Responsibility is tackling whatever is in front of you.
Professional salespeople do what they said they’d do because they said they would. Period. If you want to be successful, think about the responsibilities you already have and take them more seriously, no matter how pointless they might seem.
Responsibility is not making excuses.
In any situation, there are always some factors we can’t control. Irresponsible people tend to shift the blame onto those factors, and vocalize them as excuses. Professional salespeople step up and are not afraid to say “This was my responsibility, and I’m sorry that I dropped the ball. Here is my suggestion on how we can fix this.”
Responsibility is not allowing small tasks to distract you.
Successful salespeople are able to generate and capitalize on momentum. When feeling crushed under a backlog of responsibilities, they are proficient at completing a few small tasks which allows them to feel as though a weight has been lifted. Doing so allows them to feel more enthusiastic about moving on to bigger responsibilities.
Responsibility is learning from mistakes.
Making the most of a mistake is a double-whammy of responsibility: not only does this transform time that was otherwise wasted into a valuable, course-altering experience, but it keeps successful salespeople from wasting their future time by ensuring they don’t repeat the same mistake.
Responsibility is being a creator (not a victim) of circumstance.
When a professional salesperson sees something that needs doing or needs to change, they don’t wait for somebody else to do it. They create opportunities and are always looking to be a leader by doing things that will make a difference. Taking charge makes successful salespeople feel powerful, which improves many other aspects of their life as well.
Have a terrific week,
Dan
If there are specific topics you’d like to see discussed in a future issue of The Sales Cycle, please contact me at 612-278-0223 or dan@mna.org