Good Enough Isn’t

I grew up in a tight-knit family with my three siblings and parents. My father and mother were my first and best teachers and believed in leading by example, something I subscribe to as well. My father was a business owner who thought that with hard work, trust, and ingenuity you could achieve great things. I started working at his general contracting business when I was in grade school, and that’s where I learned my “good enough isn’t” work ethic. I challenge myself to achieve mastery, to constantly improve, and not settle. By watching my father, I also learned how to manage others and build client relationships.  

Working alongside my father reinforced what I learnt, because the abstract was made concrete and personal. Similar to my hands-on learning experience, you can develop sales expertise and mastery by applying sales skills. Grow your sales competence to a higher level with continued sales experience. 

In his book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Peter Brown states that if we refocus our efforts on areas of poor performance, we can raise our performance. Brown suggests that we have a choice to either steer clear of challenges in the future or double our challenges. By increasing our efforts, we broaden our skills and expertise. 

Here are three steps to discover your weaknesses and strengthen them to achieve sales mastery:

1.  Find your weaknesses. Look at your sales knowledge and performance. Determine where you need to move forward rather than what you have accomplished. Setbacks show us where we need to do better.

2.  Commit to improvement. Dedicate yourself to becoming more competent as a sales professional or business owner, through reflection, new skill development, and repetition. What we practice will improve.

3.  Implement a “Well and Better” self-evaluation process. After every sales call, ask yourself, “What did I do well?” Think of three–five things you did well. Follow that question with “What could I have done better?” Think of three–five things you could have done better. 

Repeat steps one, two, and three until your performance improves.

For example, you identify potential targets and send out twenty LinkedIn “invitations to connect” only to get zero responses. You ask yourself the two “Well and Better” questions:

What I did well? 1) I used the LinkedIn advanced search tool to find quality contacts; 2) I read each contacts profile prior to connecting; and 3) I included a message with each request to connect

What could I have done better? 1) My message could have been more personal; 2) my message could have included an affinity – how we were connected; and 3) my value story talked about me, instead of the person I wanted to connect with.

Next step, focus on writing a more compelling value story and send out another round of “invitations to connect” until your response rate starts improving. With trial and error, your learning will lead to a more compelling value story.  

Brown also suggests that when learning is harder, the knowledge you gain is stronger and lasts longer. When we are given a chance to struggle with a problem, it makes for more impactful learning. See my Value Story blog topics for eight blog posts to help improve your value story. Mastering your value story is worth the initial struggle. 

So rather than thinking your performance is good enough, it’s a good idea to identify your weaknesses. Working to improve them will help you learn to perform at or near your full sales potential.

Here’s to selling Mastery. 

-Cherilynn

Head of Education and Growth, Sistas In Sales

Executive Coach/Managing Partner, CGI

Cherilynn Castleman, Executive Coach/Sales Trainer, has been a sales executive for 20+ years. With a natural talent for teaching and a drive to sell, Cherilynn uses her skills to coach and train other executives and sales professionals.

“In complete darkness, we are all the same; it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us. Don’t let your eyes deceive you.” Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson is A prominent figure in popular culture- a singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer.