The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

You already know that turning talent into performance requires a true understanding of talent. Spotting talent, hiring talent, developing talent, and coaching talent. . . it’s mission critical.

Here’s a little something you may not have thought about before, though: every innate talent at an extreme level of intensity, can have its downside. One of my clients recently observed, “Talent can be used for good or evil!”

• Take charge and convincing is good. Bossy is bad.
• Social and people-oriented is good. Long-winded, over-talking is bad.
• Competitive and driven is good. Cut-throat is bad.

Here we are at Friday, the end of another week, and we're sharing the top articles and resources we've read this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. Grow From Your Strengths — strategy + business

Most companies want to grow. But as this article points out, you can grow profitably and sustainably only from a position of strength. The author explains how to chart a course toward sustainable and profitable expansion by combining four approaches to growth. 

John Wooden, one of the most revered coaches in the history of basketball, summed up one of the most powerful takeaways in strength management in one simple sentence: "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." That gem of an observation extends far beyond the court and deep into each of our lives.

As the head coach at UCLA, Wooden won 10 NCAA national championships in 12 years, including an unprecedented seven in a row. No other coach or school has won the NCAA tournament more than two consecutive years in a row so I’m sure we can all agree that the guy knew talent! He knew how to spot it, recruit it, and he certainly knew how to coach it.

John Wooden understood that we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. And for every one of us, our weaknesses greatly outnumber our strengths. Whether we are talking about sports superstars, famous musicians, groundbreaking scientists, successful entrepreneurs, or people in your sales department, our weaknesses comprise the mountain that looms large over the tiny molehill of our strengths. 

You've spent weeks trying to get a meeting with an important prospect, you've gotten past the gatekeepers and have given him or her a valid business reason (VBR) to have a meeting with you. You're halfway through the presentation that you worked on for hours over the weekend, and your prospect stops you dead in your tracks with a question you have never heard before. What do you do? Do you fake it? Do you dance around the question and minimize it?

If you are truly looking to better yourself as a salesperson and to make a solid and lasting client relationship, you don’t do any of those things mentioned above. You stop and turn to your prospect and say, “That’s a great question and one I have never heard before. I don’t know, let me get back to you."

It might not work on a test in college or in politics, but admitting you don’t know the answer to a question in business can work to your advantage in 3 ways. The first way is that it gives you the opportunity to follow up with your prospect after the meeting with information the person is interested in receiving. Secondly, it gives you a chance to display your expertise in a well-thought-out manner. And lastly, it helps you build credibility and trust (especially if you follow up in a timely manner). Let’s look at how each of these ways can benefit you.

We've come to the end of the week, and we're sharing the top articles and resources we've read this week. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. Deliver Feedback That Sticks — Harvard Business Review

The secret of effective feedback is making it feel like the message is coming from an ally, not an adversary. But this is easier said than done. This article offers practical steps to make sure you're delivering feedback in a way that shows you're on the same team.

Most times when you find yourself at a crosswalk, you simply stand in front of the "don't walk" signal, and the light will eventually say "walk." Sales can be a lot like that. You just show up often enough and someone eventually buys something.  

At important, busy intersections, corners where some extra caution is required, you can walk up to the crosswalk and watch the lights cycle through for the cars over and over, but you just keep getting "don't walk." After a while, you'll look behind you and see there's an extra step you need to take to get across: there's a button you need to push to get the "walk" signal you want. It's an easy thing to do, but if you don't notice it, you could stand there all day waiting.

It's Friday, and it's time to share our Top 5 articles and resources from this week's readings. Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. It Pays to Give Thanks at the Office — The Wall Street Journal

In many offices, it's rare to hear "Thank you," or "I really appreciate that." But in a 2013 survey of 2,000 Americans, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation, 80% of professionals agreed that receiving gratitude makes them work harder. And when researchers at the London School of Economics analyzed more than 50 studies for a 2011 paper that looked at what gets people charged up at work, they discovered some interesting findings. They concluded that we give our best effort if the work gets us interested and excited, if we feel that it’s providing meaning and purpose, and if others appreciate what we’re doing. This article digs into the details of why appreciation is such a strong motivator.

As a Talent Analyst, I am highly invested in helping others to bloom where they’re planted as well, working to maximize their natural strengths and help them grow as a result. This is fairly easy as long as the right people are planted in the right places. When they’re not, all of the nurturing in the world won’t help them thrive.