3 Top Tips for Your Success Journey
Every day is a school day, so they say.
And so it proved recently with the utter humbling I had this week.
I’d scheduled a “LinkedIn Live” to talk about the fundamentals of Sales and my new Start Selling! sales training video.
Now, I’ve not done a LinkedIn Live before; I usually use Zoom to deliver Masterclasses but Live offers the opportunity to engage a much larger audience.
Encouragingly, several hundred people had signed up to join the call. So, like all brand new initiatives, I was both excited about the opportunity but also nervous about the risk of getting it wrong and looking a klutz.
Excited because I’m really passionate aboutq B2B sales and sales training. Helping sales teams get better at selling and especially helping early-career talent learn some strategies I wish I’d known when I first started out in this amazing profession.
You Gotta Practice
So I practised a week in advance to expose and iron out any system issues. Some of you may even have seen it appear in your LinkedIn notifications - “Keith Rozelle is Live".
On the big day, I’d rehearsed my content, finessed the presentation and even peer-reviewed it with Mrs Rozelle (HR Director by profession so in my target audience too!).
At 1.15pm, I pressed the “go live“ button and that was it, we were off! I even launched the call with a 30-second countdown video to build audience tension (Steven Spielberg eat your heart out)
Everything seemed fine at first, I introduced myself, thanked everyone for taking the time out to join the call (a professional courtesy), and asked where in the world they were connecting from.
Reading the chat box I saw responses from Tamworth, Lichfield, and London - engagement - and so that settled my butterflies that there was actually someone on - imposter syndrome affects all of us!
However, given several hundred people had accepted the original invite from all around the world, I was slightly surprised not to see New York or Bangalore etc.
No matter, I thought, I’m sure they’re just in “receive mode“ and want to see this presentation.
The Importance of Feedback
Now, LinkedIn Live is very different to Zoom which can be interactive both visually and also with the chatbox. LinkedIn Live is a professional broadcast service - you can’t actually see your audience and you can only interact via the chatbox.
So anyway, I delivered the session and received plenty of chatbox feedback from a half-dozen people or so and I was encouraged that it had gone well.
Until I ended the presentation.
I checked LinkedIn for any feedback and there were literally dozens and dozens of “I can’t get on the call, can anyone see anything? and lots of other variations of equal mystification.
It turns out, that I’d clicked on the incorrect link on the broadcast software, so whilst I was, in fact, live I was live to the wrong audience!
Now why am I telling you about an error I’d made, why am I risking my reputation by admitting that I’ve made a mistake?
It’s this: Have you ever made a mistake? Have you ever embarrassed yourself in public? Of course you have!
Well shock, horror, we have something in common then. I make mistakes from time to time too - we all do.
The world of social media is full of posts that create false illusions of perfection - how we should look, what we should be driving and what kind of home we should be living in.
Reality is different.
I believe in authenticity. I believe that part of leadership is in showing your human side - especially after the last couple of years. Humanity is vital.
I believe leaders need to make themselves vulnerable for a number of reasons. Firstly, it makes you more relatable - almost everyone can relate to making mistakes and, secondly, it builds trust. Trust is the absolute bedrock of all great relationships
Zig Ziglar said this:
“If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly...until such times as you can do it well.”
And for those out there (and there are bound to be some) who thought negatively about me messing up, well we are probably not destined to get on with each other. Our values would not be aligned, we would be a poor strategic fit.
Leaders Say Sorry...and mean it
I recorded an apology video that same afternoon and received a number of supportive responses such as “happens to all of us”, and “every day is a school day” so thanks in advance if 1 of those was you!
And so I look forward to getting it right this time, Tuesday 31st at 1:15 pm, for Start Selling!
I have set a big expectation now but I’m determined to get it right this time as I think It’s great content!
And that’s just like sales - or anything new. If we get it right all the time, we might be winning but we’re not learning. And sooner or later, not learning, not growin, is going to cost us.
Success: What a Real Journey Looks Like
Let’s face it, you can’t always be brilliant the first time. You’re likely going to make mistakes. However, the biggest mistake of all is to not try in the first place.
Too often, we are conditioned to believe in instant or overnight success.
Reality is very different.
So, I’m grateful to Tom and Lauren at Maple Tree Design – my new social media partner - who came up with this amazing infographic to describe a more realistic success journey - starting at Crapville and continuing through to Success Village.
So I pose this question to you:
What is so big, so important to you, that you are prepared to fail at first in order to practice - and practice again - in order to get it right?
For me, it’s LinkedIn live. For you, it'll be something else.
Whatever it is, I hope to see you on Tuesday 31st at 1:15 pm to Start Selling!
3 Top Tips for Success
1. Action cures fear - you don't just get confidence. You get confidence by starting something, being bad at it and trying over and over again until you get better at it
2. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step - take it now
3. Done is way better than perfect
Other Marvel-lous Sales Hints and Tips
Top 3 Tips for Sending Video Messages on LinkedIn here
How to make a Cold Call here
How to get your Prospect's attention here