Leading Growth

15Your Next Vision

THE HIGHER YOU climb, the further you can see. From your new vantage point, what was once out of view comes into focus, providing you with a new vision. When you were still on the ground, you might have worried about net new revenue and your growth rate. You may have started with a conservative vision, a modest goal, and a growth rate you believed you and your team could accomplish without too much difficulty.

You will be elated to reach your goal, and deservedly so. Take a moment to be proud of yourself and your team. But when that moment passes, you'll be struck by the idea that you set your goal too low, your vision too limited. Had you been a little bolder, you'll realize, you would have increased net new revenue by some larger percentage and smashed your targets by an even greater amount. You'll also recognize what you need to change to do even better in the future. This is the beginning of your next vision.

Assessing Your Activities

There are two primary variables to success in sales: activity and effectiveness. When you look at your results and the work you and your team must do to bring your new vision to life, the changes you need to make are almost certain to fall into one of these categories. My goal here is to convince you that “more activity” is not the only strategy available or necessary for growth.

You may need to increase your current activities, but you may also need to pursue a number of new and different activities, especially to keep ...