CHAPTER 23
Dreaming Big to Be Big: Loyalty and High Performance
A young sales rep took a job at a trade show marketing company. After two months on the job learning the ropes and all he could from his bosses and other reps, he told his boss and everyone on the team that he was ready: He will soon be the number-one sales rep in the company and double what the top rep does today. Many of his teammates felt he was what Texans call “all hat and no cattle” (all talk and no action). They called him cocky. But he backed up his words. He managed his time, asked his boss for coaching to serve him and their clients better, made three times the calls of everyone else, and traveled anywhere at any time to meet with prospects.
Sure enough, by his second year, this rep was number one with more than $1.8 million in sales. By his fourth year, he was selling more than $4 million. Today, he does a little more than $5 million. Now, here's the rub: No one had done more than $2 million when this rep started. These days, that is middle of the pack.
All boats rise with the tide? Nope, it was more than that. Talking to the other reps at the company, they admitted thinking this kid was too full of himself and making empty promises. They called him a suck-up. But when they saw him delivering on those promises, it shook them out of their complacency. This kid wasn't sucking up. He wasn't acting maliciously or undermining them. He wasn't manipulating anyone to get what he wanted. He was just delivering results and exceeding expectations—something other reps hadn't done for years. They had been successful, but only to a point. This kid was a high-performing superstar, and he made everyone around him want to get better and do more to serve their clients and boss. Dismissing him as cocky was simply blaming him for the will they had lost to work hard and demand the same coaching from their boss.
All because this kid knew what every leader in the middle must to serve up and out and coach down: Before you can win, you need the desire to win. To be big, you need to dream big. You need to go for it!
Earlier I laid out how some leaders in the middle believe building a bench is disloyal to the team you have. The example of this young rep shows exactly why it is not: He backed his words with actions and built on every success to demand more of himself. He made the entire team choose to do better. He didn't have more knowledge or experience than any of the other reps. He just felt he wasn't entitled to anything and pushed himself to act to make his dreams a reality.
In my last book, I wrote about being logical when setting goals. Setting realistic goals is often justification for not dreaming big like those other reps. Realistic goals are limiting because they are realistic; they are based on what one has seen or done before. The young rep set logical goals. He was thinking big, not just dreaming it. Logical means, given the time and the will, I can achieve whatever goal is possible, not just what is realistic.
Leaders in the middle must push themselves and their teams to dream in the biggest ways possible and do the important tasks and activities, even when there are not any immediate results or evidence that the dream is even possible to become reality.
Success in Business Is Built on Successful Moneyships
I probably could have ended this part here and sent you on your way. But after talking so much about misplaced loyalty and self-importance when it comes to understanding what it means to be important but not required, I wanted to go a little deeper about how this young rep delivered big. It went beyond his serve up mindset or his openness to coaching from his boss. Simply put, he served out to his clients and turned those relationships into “moneyships.”
I have heard thousands of people say “sales is a relationship business” as if it is the hidden secret to success. I agree that sales is a relationship business, but the secret isn't relationships: The secret to success—and being appreciated and valued by your boss and your organization—is having the mindset to turn all business relationships into “moneyships.”
This relationship principle is for all businesspeople whether you are in sales, HR, finance, customer service, manufacturing, working the floor of a factory . . . and especially for leaders in the middle who want to keep serving up at the highest levels. A strong and genuine relationship with our clients and customers is essential. But that's about communication and rapport. Moneyships are about being valuable to those you do business with to build your business. This has nothing to do with spending money on clients, taking them out to dinner, and sending them gifts. In fact, it's the exact opposite: Turning relationships in to moneyships is about getting others to give you money or do business with you because you are valuable to their success.
Too many leaders forget this. I'm sure many of the reps in that trade show office had. Salespeople and businesspeople in many industries have lots of relationships, but too often those relationships never grow in to moneyships that generate more business or income for the organization they work for. After all, “important but not required” goes for your clients' perception of you too. If you are not important and adding value to them, it doesn't matter how likeable you are. They'll grab a beer with you after they sign a deal with your competitor.
Three Steps to Convert Relationship to Moneyships
- Be clear on your intentions. Never have a hidden agenda but know there is always something in it for you. If your goal is a long-term relationship to gain your customers' business, then tell them that and show them what success looks like. Any business deal is a win-win. If you tell people what you're doing and where you're going, they never have to guess where you're coming from or what your angle is. They already know it.
- Be persistent, bold, and confident. You must know that to serve those around us we must make them look good. To do this, you must not be afraid to get to know someone and let them know you. You must be willing to swallow your pride and be vulnerable, especially if you don't have the answers right away. That takes great confidence—and follow-through. No moneyship starts from one conversation. Be ready to ask multiple times, leave multiple messages, and get rejected multiple times.
- Put it all together. Align the moneyship with your team's organization. As good a deal as it might be, you serve the people who pay you first. Any deal must be a flawless experience for them too.
Many leaders in the middle with whom I share these steps agree with them, but they and their teams fall way short on the actual execution. That's because when it comes to putting it all together, they forget about coaching down while serving up and out. Each of these steps is coachable through scrimmages, practice meetings, one-on-ones, and ride days. You know, the important tasks we forget to manage our time to do. Like I said before, the consequences of not doing them aren't immediate, but they will be felt in the long term. Especially when someone like that young rep takes that business away.
Final Considerations: Everyone Is Important, but No One Is Required
Yes, the answer to these questions is all the same.
Are you confusing loyalty and accountability? Serve up by holding yourself and your people accountable to their results and exceeding expectations today, and demand everyone continue to get better in the future. Coach them up or out!
Are you confusing loyalty with tenure? Serve up by holding yourself and your people accountable to their results and exceeding expectations today, and demand everyone continue to get better in the future. Coach them up or out!
Are you being loyal to your top performers and leveraging their successes so everyone dreams big? Serve up by holding yourself and your people accountable to their results and exceeding expectations today, and demand everyone continue to get better in the future. Coach them up or out!