I just finished reading a fantastic business book that came highly recommended from a successful CEO, I know. Traction by Gino Wickman provides a simple framework, called the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, for business owners to grow their organization.
There are six areas to the Entrepreneurial Operating System®:
- Vision
- People
- Data
- Issues
- Process
- Traction
By compartmentalizing each piece and getting all the right parts in the right place, over time, an organization will become a well-oiled machine.
In my work as a coach for salespeople, we put together a document called a Leadership Development Plan. The Plan does for individuals what the Entrepreneurial Operating System® does for organizations.
Leadership Development Plan
As salespeople or as leaders, we have a lot of pressure to bring about results and make change happen. Before we can change situations or other people, we have to go to work on ourselves.
We all have different areas we need to work on about ourselves. It might be around our drive and motivation. It could be how we react to the situation and how we show up with people.
No matter what it is that you need to work on, in the end, you need to grow.
An integrated operating system for growth will bring focus to the path you can take to realize the change you are looking for.
The Leadership Development Plan is individualized to each person and clarifies the route on your growth journey.
If you would like help to develop a Leadership Development Plan, contact us today.
The Salesman Operation System
As I was reading Traction by Gino Wickman, looking for ways to apply it to salespeople, I thought of many other books that fit into each category of the Entrepreneurial Operating System®.
Working on each of these compartments, separately, is a great way to break
Please check out the following books as a resource to help you grow to the next stage of your journey:
Vision: If you are not clear on where you are going with your life, how will you know when you get there?
- Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Steven Covey
- Start With Why – Simon Sinek
- Art of Work – Jeff Goins
People: I don’t buy into the belief that we are the sum total of the people we spend the most time with. Other people don’t define us. Who we surround ourselves with is important because we can only grow to the level we have the relational support for. There are plenty of books that will help you grow your relational world; these are my favorites:
- Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goldman
- Dare To Lead – Brene Brown
- Safe People – Henry Cloud & John Townsend
Data: a great book here is How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen. What it comes down to is you got to know how you are doing. Once you know your numbers, you will be able to find activities that will improve each one. Here are the four most important ones for salespeople:
- Number of Opportunities
- Revenue per Customer
- Win Rate
- Speed – sales cycle or stage
Issues: there are going to obstacles to overcome for you to achieve your vision. It takes transparency to acknowledge the issues you face. Once the issues are on the table, now it’s time to make better decisions to bring about the best results. Does anyone wish they had better decision-making abilities?!?
- Boundaries For Leaders – Henry Cloud
- Smart Choices – John Hammond
- Thinking In Bets – Annie Duke
- Predictable Irrationality – Dan Ariely
Process: just because sales methodologies are bullshit, don’t use that as an excuse not to define your sales process. A sales process allows you to see where you are losing people and diagnoses places to improve. Without it, you are just trying to hide.
- Power of Consistency – Weldon Long
- Value Proposition Design – Alexander Osterwalder
- This is Marketing – Seth Godin
Traction: bringing your vision to reality. This is where the rubber meets the road, your amount of torque is useless if you can get traction!
- Execution – Chris McChesney
- The Advantage – Patrick Lencioni