Are your results reflective of "you"?

January 5, 2008

One day I worked with a top level executive. It was really interesting how the conversation weaved between how his team wasn’t getting results and how he was doing the lion’s share of the work (and marketing). This guy was a rainmaker extraordinaire. The other executives on his team were not.

What we discussed during our meeting was his strengths* and how those revealed themselves. He had an intense desire to serve others and to be excellent in all of his dealings. His marketing was effortless. He simply did what he loved and the clients followed. On the other hand, his counterparts struggled with their marketing and business development efforts. They didn’t act like themselves. They second-guessed their decisions.

During this conversation, the executive lamented, “Why can’t they just ‘get it?’”

That’s when I shared with him what I saw. What I saw was that one of the other executives just lost his confidence after a series of bad deals. His book of business was down, and he was down, too. Here was a superstar who was getting mediocre results. The effect was that he started acting mediocre. To me, this one was the easiest fix.

Another executive was not good at business development. His strengths were geared more toward organization and managing details. He was a precision operator as a manager and a technician; however, when it came to going out of the office, it was really a bit of a disaster for all involved.

I tactfully shared what I saw in the rainmaker. I shared with him that I saw that he was an amazing business developer and client service advocate. However, internally, he was as much of a disaster as the guy who was a great manager and technician was at business development.

Our conversation veered toward the question, “What would happen if you continued to grow business like you do and this other executive manages the internal side for you? How would that affect your business?”

His response was immediate – “That would almost be the best of both worlds – I get to do what I do best and so does he.” And then came the concern about the mechanics of making that happen – compensation models would have to be changed, etc.

The point here is this. In an organization, every player works at business development. Some will take on the lion’s share of the work because it is simply the best thing for them. They thrive on it, they are energized by it. Others will contribute to helping those rainmakers go out and make rain. Those activities will energize them, and contribute to the overall good of the company. And yet all can contribute in their own unique way to the bottom line. Every person can market. The key to success is discovering what your unique style is.

When it comes to marketing, go with what works for you. Don’t try to do activities that are not reflective of who you are. If you are an introvert, and love bridge, then join a bridge club and share with others just what you do. Go with the flow so to speak. Don’t force yourself into a business situation where you would rather watch paint peel – enjoy who you are and go where others will see your brilliance.

If you are an active type of person, take it off-road and do something different. Get out of the marketing box and refuel for profits.

Next week I’ll share one of the most profitable marketing ideas I’ve ever encountered and I’ll share exactly how you can do it, too!

*This conversation took place before I ever knew about the Clifton StrengthsFinder or CoreClarity – I’ve had an insatiable desire to match up top performers to their best jobs for years. Therefore, in this example, I didn’t use the proper terminology of ‘talent’ vs. ‘strength’ although in this gentleman’s case his talents were definitely strengths.

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Posted by Tina Ferguson | Filed Under Blog, Marketing Results 

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