Do you as a leader allow yourself to listen to voices outside of your circle? If not, you are operating within what I call “cocoon leadership.” It’s when the only input we receive is from a very limited set of people who subscribe to our beliefs.
Leadership is about being pro-active. It’s about seeing and being able to respond to what others don’t see. When we fail to see beyond our horizon, we are not leading.
Leadership is about knowing what others are saying, thinking and doing and being able to know how to leverage the situation. We see the same problem in sales when salespeople fail to develop the relationships they need to have with an account. Too many salespeople subscribe to the belief that as long as business is good with an account, there’s no need to develop other contacts.
The more input we have, the stronger we will be as both a leader and salesperson. Check out the beginning of the below video, where I talk about the impact of “cocoon leadership” on the presidential election.
The full video is a great example of breaking out of “cocoon leadership,” as you’ll see 5 people — good friends of mine — who have brilliant minds and yes, differences of opinions, talking about a sensitive subject.
The video was put together by Selling Power and Gerhard Gschwandtner during a 2-hour free-flowing and at times controversial discussion with 3 sales expert peers — Mike Weinberg, Anthony Iannarino and Jeb Blount.
Watch the full video. Yes, there will be things you don’t agree with — none of us in the room agreed with what everyone was saying. The fact we didn’t all agree is just the point — it allowed each of us to move beyond our cocoon.
Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
Mark Hunter, your next keynote speaker:
Mark Hunter, CSP, “The Sales Hunter” is recognized globally as one of the top sales speakers, known for his challenging insights, high-energy, and passion to create change that he delivers each time he speaks, whether it be a sales kick-off meeting, corporate function or association event. Mark Hunter is the author of the best selling book, High-Profit Prospecting. Here’s what others are saying:
Mark presented “Accelerate Your Sales Prospecting” at the February 2015 Institute for Excellence in Sales program in Northern Virginia. He nailed it and gave the 150 selling professionals and business owners in attendance amazing tips, strategies and tactics they could implement that day. The sales leaders at our program universally acknowledged Mark as one of the top speakers we’ve ever had.
- Fred Diamond, Executive Director, IES Washington DC
At our annual company sales meeting we’ ve never seen a speaker work so hard, with advance preparation, with such genuine style of delivery, and with such hunger for results. If you weren’t on the edge of your seat….you were in a coma. Period!
- Mark Allen, Regional Manager, Marlin Companies
Mark’s strategies are innovative, easy to follow and easy to use in the “real world.” He customized his strategies to directly speak to the issues and challenges facing our unique business, and he helped us encompass specific selling examples. This training was very applicable to our sales staff, both at a senior and junior level, as it reinforced important sales techniques.”
- Danielle Pakradooni, Blue Man Group
Copyright 2017, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
