The Life Cycle of a Salesperson
Way back in 1974, a guy called Marvin A. Jolson wrote an article called ‘The Salesman’s Career Cycle’ for a US publication called The Journal of Marketing. It starts like this, “The Product Life Cycle (PLC) has been found to be a fundamental key to successful and profitable product management, from the introduction of new products to the phasing out of obsolescent ones. An analogous continuum that ranges from the recruitment of a new salesman to his termination suggests that appropriateness of the salesman’s career cycle (SCC) as a general model for assisting sales executives.”
Leadership Skills: Here’s Why Effective Leaders Don't Live In Comfort Zones
Up until now, I’ve tried to be very careful about how I write these blogs because I don’t want to put a shelf life on them. After all, the subjects I’m writing about – the principles of leadership, the importance of identifying your employees’ strengths, etc. – are timeless and universal. The topic I’m going to talk about today, why it's essential for leaders to step out of their comfort zone, is timeless too. However, I'd be avoiding the elephant in the room if I didn't at least give the nod to what's going on in the world right now because the conflict in Ukraine has pushed a lot of leaders out of their comfort zones in ways they could never have imagined at the start of this year.
Career Progression: Why It’s Essential To Map Your Employee’s Careers
I don’t like gardening. The closest I come to being a gardener is working out where the plants should go so somebody who knows more about plants than I can put them there. That's also a reflector of one of my key strengths in business. I'm full of ideas; I'm full of what's going to happen in the future, and when there's something I want to do, I want my team to help me get it started as quickly as possible. CliftonStrengths calls people like me ‘Activators’. There are many good things about being an Activator and a few not so good things as well, mainly that Activators can become very impatient and frustrated when things aren’t happening.
The Importance Of Identifying Your Employees’ Strengths
Think about what your employees and team members are doing right now. Are they working in roles that let them use their strengths to their (and your) best advantage, or were they just slotted into that role simply because it was there, and you needed a body to fill it? If it’s the second one, chances are you’re not making the best of what your employees can do, and they won’t be achieving their full potential either.
“It’s Not My Job”
Sure, there will always be people who’ll try to swerve being given anything else to do simply because they don’t want to be bothered. But, if you’re a halfway decent leader or manager, you'll already know who those people are and have taken steps to either encourage a better mindset or inspire them to find another workplace where they can make their excuses and waste somebody else's time.
Do What You Love And You’ll Never Work A Day In Your Life
So, now all that has been said, the old saying, "Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life", seems like an excellent place to start the ball rolling.
Is it a saying you agree with, or do you think it’s just another one of those corny, old-fashioned cliches our parents and grandparents used to spout way back in the mists of time, like “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” and "There's no use crying over spilt milk"?
