06.26.18
I Would Have One But….
At a youth track and field event, I heard the following from a young pre-teen athlete. “Yeah, I would have won this year but there were nine more people. If it wouldn’t have been for those nine extra people I would have come in first.” I found that quite humorous. The excuses we use for not accomplishing a goal or task start at a young age and often continue through adulthood. The problem is we sometimes think they sound good but they really sound as ridiculous as someone not winning a race because there was better competition.
Here are a few excuses that may make us feel better in the sales world but they don’t accomplish meeting our sales budgets.
“It’s summer- everyone’s on vacation. Can’t get a decision.”
“I’m waiting on my sales manager.”
“Operations messed up again.”
“There’s no stock.”
“I don’t have enough product options.”
I’m sure you could add some more humorous ones to the collection but the bottom line is it doesn’t matter what the reason is for not hitting a sales budget- it comes down to you, to me- the salesperson. I recently shared with a rep who was making excuses as to why their company did not deliver and told him- the customer blames you, not the company. Take responsibility and move forward. When you or your team are tempted to offer an excuse for failing to hit a goal, instead of the excuse, accept and admit the fact of failing. Then, think of other strategies that can be tried to continue progressing and make a failure a success.
Regards,
Brian
