One Word That Will Make Or Break Your Success

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(By Lisa Thal) Do you recall playing Truth or Dare? Truth or Dare is a game in which players are given the choice between answering a question asked by the other players truthfully or performing a “dare” — also set by the other players.

As managers, we play this game with our sales team quite often! We are in our weekly coaching session reviewing our salesperson’s performance, and we ask them for the truth about their business. We ask questions like, “What else can you do to improve your revenue goals? Are you happy with your activity level of getting in front of new prospects?”

We then dare them by saying, “I challenge you to call on clients with larger budgets instead of chasing small accounts who don’t have the ability to spend the necessary dollars for a successful campaign. Is there a better solution we can provide your client to help them with their outcomes?”

Or maybe your approach is to challenge your seller to become more daring. Perhaps they are falling short of expectations and fear is creeping in, so we have to dare them to change the path they are on.

Now is the time to be truthful with yourself as well! Do you have the right players in place to achieve your expectations? If so, then I challenge you to lead your team to become more daring. Let’s review the word DARE, and how you can implement this strategy with your team.

D is for Decide.

This is where you must decide what you want to achieve. This is different from hoping you can make your sales goals. It starts with your mindset. Every day you have to make decisions on what needs to be accomplished.

Determine what is holding you back! It may be letting go ofaccounts that steal time from you with little return. You may need to decide you have to meet with more new clients to grow your revenue. You may need to decide that there is more opportunity with current clients. You must be clear in what you expect.

A is for Action.

An action is the foundational key to all success. Once you determine your goal, you must apply an action in order to achieve that goal. This is the energy you put into your plan. What activities are needed each day? How many new client meetings do you need to convert a new customer? Are you meeting with current clients to see if you have other products to offer them solutions to their challenges?

Are you wasting valuable time during the day checking personal e-mails or taking long lunches with friends instead of focusing on what needs to get done today to grow your business?

If so, I challenge you to invite clients to lunch to learn more about how you can support their business needs, or to create an on-air campaign to take to new clients to help position them as the experts in their category. Maybe there is another promotional idea you can connect your client to. Dare yourself each day with one thing you can put into action to move your business forward.

R is for Recommitting.

This is key. Every day you need to recommit. It is very easy to lose sight of your original goal. You will encounter distractions and setbacks every day. So it is imperative that you focus on what needs to be done and recommit every single day until you reach your outcomes.

E is for Every Day.

This is everything. Deciding, acting, and recommitting every day is the difference between exceeding your goals and falling short. Your success is linked to the choices you make every day. You determine whether it is going to be a productive day or a reactive day. You determine the list of prospects you are going to target to do business with, and whether you will allow a competitor to call on them first.

Every day you have the opportunity to learn a better way of doing things. You learn from your failures and successes. Our days are filled with opportunities to grow our business. Every day we have the ability to share how using radio can impact a business’s bottom line.

So I dare you — I mean doubledare you — to become more daring. You need to be more fearless, not fearful. Make the decision today that you are worth it, and approach every day as if were your last!

Lisa Thal is the general sales manager for Hubbard Interactive Cincinnati. She’s also the author of Three Word Meetings: A Simple Strategy to Engage, Inspire and Empower Your Team. Get it on Amazon.com.

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