A Tribute to Stephen Covey
Stephen Covey had a significant impact on my life and millions of other lives as well. I have read many of his books:
And this book, written by his son, Stephen M.R. Covey:
The first book I read was The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Clearly a landmark book for Stephen, and a book that changed millions of lives. The most important concept I took from that book was "start with the end in mind." This is a common idea among many thought leaders in the area of self-improvement, productivity, and effectiveness. Decide what you want the outcome to be, then build the plan, the steps, and the path to get you there. As I think about Stephen, that book, and our success, I can clearly and easily state that this one concept has helped us succeed on many levels.
First Things First is all about priorities. Priorities get done; everything else is just talk. We often talk about priorities in our training sessions for both salespeople and sales managers. For salespeople, the only "A" priority is prospecting. It always has been, always will be. For sales managers, it's coaching. It is the priority that, when well executed, maximizes the people talent in which all companies invest. Nothing else has the same return.
The SPEED of Trust, written by Stephen's son Stephen, impressed me so much and, once again, it is a simple truth with big impact. Think about the relationships you have or hope to have with prospects, sales candidates, internal partners, and your sales team. The speed at which you develop a trusting relationship impacts any outcome you hope to have. Trust is established by focusing on the other person first. When preparing to conduct a coaching session or a performance management meeting, think about how the meeting might go if you start with "seek to understand" rather than "let me tell you..."
We lost a great business icon with the loss of Stephen Covey, the maker of small, efficient, and highly effective tools for our daily business and personal use. His books and the concepts they teach will continue to help us become the best versions of ourselves.
7 Sales Tips Inspired by Stephen Covey
Here are 7 sales tips inspired by reading Stephen's books:
Sales Tip 1: Be Proactive
Take initiative in life by recognizing that your decisions, and how they align with your life's principles, are the determining factor in your effectiveness. Take responsibility for your choices and the consequences that follow.
Sales Tip 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life. Create a mission statement for where you want your career to take you.
Sales Tip 3: Put First Things First
Prioritize, plan, and execute your week's tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, and whether they propel you toward your goals and enrich the roles and relationships outlined in Sales tip 2.
Sales Tip 4: Think Win-Win
Genuinely strive for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Value and respect people by understanding that a "win" for all is ultimately a better long-term solution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way.
Sales Tip 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Use empathic listening and probing questions to genuinely understand a person, which typically will compel them to reciprocate with an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, respect, and positive problem-solving.
Sales Tip 6: Synergize
Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork in order to achieve goals that no one person could have accomplished alone. Get the best performance out of a group of people by encouraging their meaningful contribution and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership.
Sales Tip 7: Sharpen the Saw
Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. This emphasizes exercise for physical renewal, as well as, for many, prayer, meditation, yoga, and good reading for mental renewal. It also includes service to society for community building and support.
What sales tips would you contribute to this list? As a sales leader, focusing on self-improvement issues like this makes for a great team discussion.
