Could Accountability Be The Missing Ingredient?

Create News

In the last article we discovered the means and methods for high level goal setting in order to plan on achieving more in 2021. There is a final ingredient that should be discussed that may be the missing component in your final recipe for success; ACCOUNTABILITY. In writing this article I thought of those that are going to start a workout program in order to become fit or lose weight in the new year. I think about all of the workout programs out there that people will evaluate whether it is a HIIT program, yoga, cross-fit, interval training or otherwise. The same is true of diet programs such as KETO, Paleo, Weightwatchers or otherwise. There are literally unlimited programs to consider here as well.  The fact is, there is very little new information out there in order to lose weight and get in shape. I’m sure that all of the programs are effective in their own right and work to get you to where you want to go. The real trick is sticking with it. Doing the steps, gaining discipline over the new tasks or behaviors and not getting distracted from the goal. Isn’t that where people usually fail? It’s typically not that the program didn't work, it’s that the person failed to execute consistently.

Such is the case with growing sales, growing ourselves or our people and ultimately growing the business we are in. It all comes down to execution. To stay undistracted, to stay disciplined and to stay consistent we often need others to help. Could it be that simple? Maybe. That has been why it has been so difficult for some during this pandemic, the inability to get help from others. We are supposed to be avoiding contact with each other as much as possible and run things on our own as much as we can. The hard part has been holding each other accountable during this time. Frankly, even before the pandemic, people found it hard to achieve more on their own. It has always been true that we need others to accomplish more.  Sadly, many never seek out help.

However, if you found out it was truly the only thing holding you back, wouldn't you want to do something about it? If it was your missing ingredient, wouldn’t you want to make a change? I find that most people actually know the right things they should be doing in life, they simply choose not to do them. Why? Well, as one profound expert once pointed out, “what is easy to do is also easy not to do”. Extremely simplistic advice, but also so true. So, what can we do about it? What can we do to hold ourselves accountable? Let’s see in the next page or so what we can learn to point us in the right direction.

Since this article is guided to help salespeople, managers and leaders let’s discuss some possibilities. For most salespeople they know that they have to grow revenue. They can do this through increased customer business or finding new customers.  For finding new customers one may decide to do a series of activities in order to do this. Activities such as sending out emails to prospective customers, asking proactively for referrals, making “cold” or “warm” phone calls to prospective customers, go to networking events, post on social media and the like. If the trick is consistency and the discipline to do it, who will hold you accountable for these behaviors? Some ideas and thoughts that we share with our own customers are:

  1.  Find two other accountability partners in or outside of your company to meet with either live, on-line or over the phone, weekly. This is an opportunity for each of you to share what you plan on doing this week to gain new business and what you accomplished last week toward that same goal. Why two others? Because if you and a single partner try to hold each other accountable, you tend to let each other off the hook. It’s that simple. With three individuals, let’s call them A, B and C, A is accountable for B, B is accountable to C and C is accountable for A. No one lets each other off the hook – it is not a two-way street.
  2. Find an accountability coach or coaching company outside of your organization. There are many one-on-one coaching companies that you can invest in to hold you accountable. They arrange weekly or bi-monthly calls to hold you accountable to what you want to achieve each week and month.
  3. Weekly meetings. Managers: hold very brief accountability meetings twice a week. Typically, these meetings run for 15-20 minutes, one on a Monday morning and another on a Friday afternoon. Monday’s meeting is to quickly review activity expectations for the week. Friday’s meeting is to quickly check in to determine whether or not those activities were accomplished. It can be done over the phone, on-line or live. Salespeople: Make the suggestion with your managers to have these meetings. Remember, nothing gets in the way of these meetings. They are priority 1, so the accountability sticks.
  4. Use CRM (customer relationship management) software like Nutshell, Salesforce, ACT!, Sage, Sugar, Hub Spot or others that will allow you to track your activities. The key with this system is to have someone monitor those activities and report back to you when you are off. As a manager, years ago, I used to allow my salespeople complete autonomy as long as they logged in and turned in their activities to me by Friday at 5pm.  I would evaluate and comment on their activities by Sunday night. However, if they did not turn in their activities that they knew that they had, an automatic meeting was scheduled with me on Monday morning at 7:30am to “discuss”. No one wanted that meeting, especially at 7:30am on a Monday, so the accountability worked.

Whatever your system, if you don’t have an accountability system as a salesperson or a manager, you will likely find yourself in the same boat that you may have been in before, seeing the same results, unpredictable sales reporting and frustrations that you are truly not getting the results out of yourself that you expect. 

Everyone is driven differently. It is true that some are easily motivated, have the fire in their belly and have no difficulty doing what they must to be successful. However, the great majority of people need help from others, and that’s not a weakness. It’s how we were built. If I’ve learned anything from this pandemic it is that we need each other. We weren’t meant to run solo, to always be left on our own. Salespeople, sales managers, leader and owners – we all need people to hold us accountable. If we truly want to grow both professionally and personally, we must eventually not isolate ourselves and get help from others.  Like working out at the gym, we will always accomplish more, do more and push ourselves way beyond what we are individually capable of when we are pushed by others. Start your accountability plan today and finally accomplish what you set out to achieve for yourself.