Translate

Monday, June 24, 2013

THE EFFECTIVE SALES EXECUTIVE

“The effective executives I have seen differ widely in their temperaments and their abilities, in what they do and how they do it, in their personalities, their knowledge, their interests --- in fact in almost everything that distinguishes human beings.  All they have in common is the ability to get the right things done. “

That’s Peter Drucker, back in 1966.  I didn’t read The Effective Executive until 2001, but when I did it changed my life.  

Much, if not all, of what Drucker writes applies to salespeople.  He outlines five habits that are required to be effective:
1.  Know where your time goes.
2.  Focus on results.
3.  Build on your strengths.
4.  Do first things first.
5.  Make good decisions.

A friend of mine once told me about a mantra she had received, which for me seemed to summarize Drucker perfectly:  “Focus, and Deliver.”

Some of Drucker’s gems:
“It is amazing how many things busy people are doing that never will be missed.”
“Meetings have to be the exception rather than the rule.”
”If I had a son or a daughter, would I be willing to have him or her work under this person?”
“The first rule in decision-making is that one does not make a decision unless there is disagreement.”

After reading the book, I began to ask myself, nearly every day:  what is the mission-critical inch of my business?   It was my way of running a daily Drucker diagnostic, to ensure that I was laser-focused on the most important thing I could contribute to my company that day.

I couldn’t possibly do justice to Drucker’s words, so I will simply say:  read the book.  And if that’s not enough, I’ll leave you with this:

“The [executive] who focuses on efforts and who stresses his downward authority is a subordinate no matter how exalted his title and rank.  But the [executive] who focuses on contribution and who takes responsibility for results, no matter how junior, is in the most literal sense of the phrase, “top management.”

1 comment:

  1. Another Drucker gem: "The purpose of a business is to create a customer"

    ReplyDelete