O – Ownership. Ownership is defined by Stolz as owning the outcome of the situation– regardless of the origin. A great example comes from a young sales manager who did not have a big budget for incentivizing her sales team. And yet, she was still responsible for achieving a high quota in a competitive selling environment. Instead of crying the blues about no budget, this young sales manager took control and ownership over her destiny. She went around to all the bars and restaurants where they offered drawings for happy hours and/or food. She dropped her business card in every fishbowl in town and her card drops resulted in free lunches and happy hours for her sales team. The sales team enjoyed free team building events because of her take charge, ownership attitude.
Resilient, high ownership sales organizations don’t blame or whine. Instead, they ask what part of this sales challenge we should own. What systems and processes could we have had in place to ease the ‘pain’ of the recent economic downturn? What salespeople should have hired/fired before the downturn? What can we do today? What must we change in order to thrive and not merely survive? After the questions are asked, the high ownership sales organization takes control. They stop talking and start executing. They manage results, not excuses.
Good Selling!
Colleen Stanley
Chief Selling Officer
