Fear, Transparency, Honesty
How fear, transparency, and honesty affects our profession as sellers and leaders
Hey there friends -
I’m trying to be a bit more vulnerable in my relationships - personal and professional.
Especially as a sales leader, I’ve found this increase in transparency leads to a more trustworthy and beneficial relationship in all its forms.
(side note: check out Brene Brown’s Ted Talk, book Daring Greatly, or latest book Dare to Lead)
That’s why this week, the content stood out to me. Sometimes we struggle and are in a slump. Sometimes we have a hard time providing accurate feedback (candor), and sometimes we need some help and guidance.
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
John Kaplan talks about working through a slump as a seller, when nothing seems to be going your way.
Gary Vaynerchuk talks with Ryan Holiday about using empathy, and candor as key components to his leadership strategy.
Plus transparent, semi-hot-take-snippets that may ruffle some feathers, but sure to get your introspective thoughts pumping. How fear, transparency, and honesty affects our profession as sellers and leaders
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- subscribe or share it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
Working Through a Slump
I love the Force Management Podcasts. They are usually 10 min or less, and packed with some great insights. I loved this one about working through a slump as a seller, when nothing seems to be going your way.
Highlights:
Focus on what you can control. Sales is all about at bats. Best baseball hitters bat close to .300. That’s a 70% LOSE ratio!
Assess where you are struggling. Pipeline? Movement? Closing? Ask for feedback.
Motivation vs. Mojo. You can’t lose motivation - work your way out of a slump. ( I think what he’s talking about here is more discipline to keep going despite lack of motivation)
Game film. “Nobody has to tell champions to watch game film”.
Eliminate Fear in the Workplace
Love him or hate him, give this episode a quick listen as Gary Vaynerchuk joins Ryan Holiday (Author of The Obstacle is the Way) on The Daily Stoic.
Gary talks with Ryan specifically about using empathy, and candor as key components to his leadership strategy. Gary discusses how to get comfortable with vulnerability and emotional development, the best way to maintain long-term business success, and more.
“My greatest Fear was to create fear in my companies” - Gary Vaynerchuk
STRETCH SNIPPETS
🙋♂️Richard Smith gives us one of his favorite questions to ask on a sales call: “If you were to take this to your boss, what would make them think this wasn't a good idea?”
👀 Sahil Mansuri says “If you are a VP Sales or AE selling to the enterprise, you are likely missing quota in Q3. So if the CEO or Board is blaming you, show them this post”
❌ Todd Caponi says we should retire the word “commit” from our sales lexicon if we want transparency to share the true reality of the pipeline.
😬 Jason Lemkin asks us to be honest: “How easy is it to really switch to your app?” Good things to think about to help us understand what the buyer may be going through.
💪 Ian Koniak polled over 2,000 salespeople on the #1 reason for sales underperformance. Over 50% gave an answer that may surprise you. (HABITS)
🧠 Mindset
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings, and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights, and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles, and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
Are you a VP, Director, thought leader, or content producer in the SaaS space? We’d love to have you contribute. Just reply to this email and I’ll be in touch.
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