Manager's Minute

Embrace the Broken Record

Have you ever watched a documentary on a professional athlete or olympian? What separates the elite competitors is their attention to detail. I had the opportunity at a recent conference (pre-quarantine) to hear Anton Apolo Ohno speak. For those that may not know, he is the most decorated American Winter Olympian of all time. He is also the first to tell you that he didn’t have the most talent in any of the Olympic games he competed in. What he will tell you is that mindset, repetition, and attention to detail are what made him succeed. 

There are many examples of this throughout sports. When we think about selling and our sales representatives repetition and attention to detail is what will separate the good from great. As a leader it is your job to pay attention to the details. To drive home the process and ensure that every question, every step, and every responsibility is checked off by your sellers. This inevitably means you are the broken record. 

In every sales meeting, every 1:1, and each deal review it is your job to remind your sellers of the bigger picture. To make your sales motion second nature. Until that happens, remind them every day. Make it a cadence. We even made many of ours a set of commandments that a seller would read out to the group every week. These habits don’t go away when we are working remote, they become even more important. 

Be your team’s broken record.