The Sales Experiment

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Do Not Pass the Buck

I wanted to tell a story about how I did not pass the buck today. Given the nature of my business, it’s hard to figure out what wise disclosure on a blog might be, so we’ll just say that I passed the test and didn’t pass the buck.

It would have been easy to brush this situation under the rug. And I could have allowed someone else to unknowingly bear the brunt of the blame, but I didn’t.

I’m not saying this to brag and show off about how full of character I am. We all have strengths in our character. We all have weaknesses. Thankfully, at work, I’ve worked hard at being willing to take responsibility when I’ve fouled up. And it’s ever so tempting to pass the buck, to shew the blame on down the line.

There are a billion ways to pass the buck.

  • We can blame colleagues
  • We can blame our busy-ness
  • We can blame clients
  • We can blame the computer system or the ridiculous barrage of emails in my inbox.
  • We can blame the systems or the processes
  • We can always blame management. They’re always fouling up, no?

One thing I’ve had to put my foot down about at work is this: I’d rather be fired after admitting to having made a bad decision or screwed up on a task than develop the reputation for never taking responsibility.

This position on taking responsibility was affirmed today when I listened to Michael Hyatt’s podcast: Why Accountability is Vital for Leaders. I’ve heard the good Mr. Hyatt mention the importance of leaders taking responsibility many times.

Perfection isn’t possible, so why pretend like we never screw up?

If we fess up, then we’re teachable. If we’re teachable and hardworking, then we’ll improve or we’ll figure out we simply need to move on.

Taking responsibility – being accountable – for our performance helps a quality leader or manager uncover our weaknesses (even if we’re our own manager or leader). If we constantly gloss over our screw-ups, then we won’t give opportunity for teachable moments and growth.

Taking responsibility is vital not only to being a leader, but for growing.

I recently lost an opportunity to a competitor. It would have been easy to blame the situation and circumstances, circumstances that were beyond my control. My contact passed the decision regarding my potential proposal to a colleague. The colleague had a friend who offered the same services I do. The colleague’s friend got the business.

I could blame them for not giving me a fair shake, but that wouldn’t teach me a dang thing.

The better approach is to ask the right questions.

  • What could I have done differently?
  • Did I clarify well enough who the decision-makers were?
  • Did I trust my relationship with my main point of contact too much?
  • Did I provide enough value in my initial appointments?

Passing the buck shields us from having to stare at ourselves in the mirror and face our imperfections.

Taking responsibility? That sucks for a few moments, but it creates opportunities for growth and learning.

Where you do you tend to pass the buck? Where do you struggle with taking responsibility?

(Leave a response in the comments)

Until tomorrow…

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Reading and Listening (in addition to the Hyatt podcast mentioned above)

Grow Your Social Media Following with These 10 Different Kinds of Posts – This is Your Life (Podcast) with Michael Hyatt & Michele Cushatt

My Top Ten Favorite Books of All Time – This is Your Life (Podcast) with Michael Hyatt & Michele Cushatt

See You at the Top – Zig Ziglar

Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. In other words, if you click and buy, then I get a commission. This is very much appreciated if you find any value in this blog. 

 

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Be a little surprising

I’m in the wonderful, exciting world of insurance sales. I’m not going to dog my industry because it really does help a lot of people. And as much as people want to say it’s boring, we are the folks who brought you Mayhem, Flo, the Lizard, the Discount Double Check, and the cute dog who goes all over the place trying to hide his bone.

That said, we independent insurance agents need to up our game. The below referenced podcast about Hello Kitty was a little inspiration today. Just because we want to educate our clients and potential clients doesn’t mean we have to completely punt our personalities and personal stories. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure how much we really need to educate every single time.

The big idea I got from the Hello Kitty podcast was that we need to always add a little surprise to our marketing or sales efforts. We don’t need to be ridiculous, but we also don’t need to pretend we are Stepford Wives of business communication.

The hat trick of marketing, though, would be the piece that educates with personality while calling the reader to action. I need to work on the call to action part.

Today’s Small Action: I tried to inject a little personality into a post on my day job blog about ‘subrogation.‘  Don’t know if it was successful, but I took a stab at it. Let me know what you think (click on the link above and check it out yo).

I also signed up for Triberr. I have no clue how to use it, but it was encouraged in the Web.Search.Social podcasts, so I did it like the good lemming that I am.

Today’s Listening

Mad Marketing 35: Getting Content Marketing Buy-In and Martha Stewart’s Keynote Bust – Marcus Sheridan – Do you have a content marketing plan? Does your organization think it’s even helpful?

Ryan Hanley, Shut Your Big Fat Face! The Web.Search.Social Marketing Podcast – Ralph and Carol Lynn Rivera

Here’s Why Hello Kitty Is Your Biggest B2B Marketing Ally, The Web.Search.Social Marketing Podcast- Carol Lynn Rivera: Great short episode about being willing to inject your personality and story into your business communication

Beer. Guacamole. And Writing A Great Email Marketing Campaign with Mike Brooks The Web.Search.Social Marketing Podcast – Ralph and Carol Lynn Rivera: The takeaway from this one? As much as you love the way you write your emails, it’s not a bad thing to check metrics. Most email providers have ’em. Use ’em why don’t you?

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This blog is a response to Dan Miller’s unintentional challenge from his podcast on August 15, 2014: If you read or listen to 30 minutes of quality content a day, you’ll double your income. 

From September 1, 2014 through March 1, 2015, I will be doing the following:

  1. Listening or reading to 30 minutes of success, growth, business, spiritual, or other mindset-shifting, skill-sharpening content.
  2. Selecting one action item from that content (with some leeway to select an action from a previous day’s content).
  3. Doing that one action.
  4. Writing about the action or some other idea from the reading and listening of the day. 

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