I’ve been reading The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, the great 18th century liberal free markets thinker. It is wise, rambling and full of sharp insights about how economies work and people act. A bit like a blog: Adam Smith 18th century blogger.
Metrics For What You Manage
You want to track metrics around marketing activity – inbound and outbound MQLs generated; sales activity – calling volume and duration; and pipeline – stage movement, growth and closings.
May the Biome Be With You
The importance of biomes – communities of micro organisms – is only now being understood. You carry your own personal biome, on, in and around your body – more cells in your body proper – that works hard to keep you healthy. The yeast biome – a symbiotic community of naturally occuring yeast and bacteria are essential to baking tasty loaves of sourdough bread. A lovingly cared for sourdough starter carries with it the ability to generate its own flavor profile as it works on flour and other dough additions.
Additional Reading
- The Sourdough Microbiome American Society of Microbiology
- Flies, Yeast and Making Wine University of California Berkeley
- The Microbiome The Harvard School of Public Health
Be An Empath, But Only Within Reason
Lots of articles in the business press about how important empathy – the ability to deeply feel / understand another’s PoV (Point of view) – is to business. Well, yes and no: not enough empathy and you will crush your senior management team; too much and you may drift from the goals you have mutually set and get stuck in personal dramas. Many leaders have gotten to where they are specifically because they are not particularly empathetic; you may be in this category. So the first step is to be aware of your own wiring.
Additional Resources
- 4 Reasons Why Empathy is Good For Business – Entrepreneur
- Six Habits of Highly Empathic People – Greater Good Magazine (UC Berkeley)
- Why Empathy is the Force That Moves Business Forward – Forbes
The Seller’s Journey: Examine Your Own Buying Behavior
When you are selling a complex product or service – and most B2B technology sales fall into this category – the process is almost always slower than you would like. Frustratingly so. Best to manage your own expectations by thinking about how you buy something new and complex: you are unlikely to make the purchase decision quickly, in haste. You wouldn’t take on something new and risky, a product or process that might put your business at risk if it failed, without due consideration. And neither will your buyer.
Additional Resources
- The End of Solution Selling – Harvard Business Review
- What is a Complex Sale? – Sales Hacker
- Why You Should Use the Solution Selling Process – LucidChart