Earlier this week, my appearance on Mike Weinberg’s Sales Management. Simplified. podcast aired. We talked about why your team wins, and the relatively straightforward work it takes to uncover it.

Near the end of our discussion, Mike asked me, “Why are leaders, owners, VPs of Sales not doing the hard work that you're advocating they need to do to really figure out why they win?”

I replied, “I don’t know if it’s intuitive to do this.”

That exchange has stuck with me since we recorded. Why isn’t something so simple more intuitive?

I think it’s got a lot to do with how many of us are wired. Sellers tend to be driven perfectionists. We’re drivers and high performers with enough ego to believe we can do things that others can’t. That’s what it takes to deliver outsized results.

It cuts both ways.

The counter resets every year, so we’re constantly engaged, either looking for opportunities or trying to protect what we believe is ours.

We’ve learned to be self-reliant, and that often means we shoulder far more blame than we need to. When things aren’t going well, we take it personally. There aren’t many of us you’d describe as “chill.”

My self-talk makes my wife angry. She’ll say, “Don’t talk to my husband that way.” We both have a chuckle, and it breaks the tension, but she’s had to say that more often than she should…

And there’s that word… I “should” all over myself all the time.

I should have said something different.
I should have had more pipeline.
I should have turned that opportunity down.
I should… I should… I should...

A sentence that starts like that has already decided that something’s missing. It’s the opposite of gratitude. One counts what’s missing; the other counts what’s there.

When something’s not going right, we go looking for help, and we usually look externally. If we’re so lacking, then we certainly can’t have the solution, right?

More often than not, the answers are already in the building.

But it’s easier to hire someone else to do the work than it is to have a good look in the mirror and recognize what you already do well, what got you where you are. What got you here may not get you where you want to go, but success leaves clues. To disregard the ones you’re leaving for yourself is a huge miss.

Complexity feels like a better (or maybe just more defensible?) answer than something so simple. If it were right there in front of you, then you would have found it, right? Not so fast, my friend…

I’ll repeat the advice I’ve been giving my clients (and myself) for years… Remind yourself of what you know to be true.

It’s more than a pep talk. It’s a review of the inventory of things you’ve done exceedingly well for years, or even decades. That’s where you can find those clues, and if nothing else, it’s a reminder that you’ve done hard things in the past and can do them again.

The solution is usually something you’re afraid to say out loud because it seems too simple to be defensible.

That's the real obstacle: you already know what to do and have been looking for reasons not to do it.

Sometimes the answer is an outside point of view, but the outsider usually isn’t where it comes from. They’re just the one who gets you to say the quiet part out loud.

What are you silently avoiding that’s holding you back?

The episode dropped Wednesday, and I listened to it on my way to Savannah to work with a client for their Sales Kickoff and to celebrate their 75th year in business. It was easily in the top two or three SKOs I’ve ever worked or attended. This company just got it right.

I've gotten a ton of great feedback on that episode. It’s a quick listen, and I think Mike and I delivered a ton of value.

Apple | Spotify

I mentioned gratitude a little earlier. I have a couple of gratitude practices I keep up daily and weekly. It’s helped me, and I miss them when they’re gone. What’s more surprising is how many other people notice.

I’ve been posting ThankfulThursday on LinkedIn for about 11 months now, and I’ve only missed one. Maybe two. The texts I get back have been the best part. They range from “you made my day” to one that stopped me cold: you didn’t know I was struggling, but this turned me around.

The other thing I didn’t expect is the people I meet in person who have been following along. They don’t compliment the posts. They compliment the vibe.

There’s humility in gratitude, and there’s pride in recognizing that. I can get a little too big for my britches, like a lot of sellers. This practice grounds me.

So this week I’m not shouting out a person. I’m shouting out gratitude itself. My family, my health, my friends, the client I flew to Savannah to see this week. The list keeps going.

Who or what are you grateful for? When’s the last time you said it out loud?

As this is landing in your inbox this morning, I’m on a plane to Austin for Scott Ingram’s Sales Success Summit. It’s an annual reunion I’m excited to attend every year, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty of takeaways to share in future newsletters.

Cheers,
JB

PS: If you’re looking for a speaker or a workshop for your SKO, I know a guy. Let’s talk.