At the Women Sales Experts Evolve conference, I had an opportunity to ask a question about my own business.
My question was:
“I know a lot of things I could do, but I haven’t created a process that gets me consistently doing them while I service my existing business.”
The interesting part for me wasn’t that I didn’t know what to do.
I knew LOTS of things I could do.
That was actually part of the problem.
There are always more ideas, opportunities, projects, and things I could be working on than I have the time, energy, or attention to execute well. Knowing what I could do wasn’t helping me decide what I should do.
Inside sales leaders have the same problem.
Your Vision Can Be a Filter
There are always salespeople who need coaching, processes that could be improved, numbers that need attention, initiatives coming down from above, customer issues, meetings, emails, and whatever unexpected thing showed up this morning.
You can’t and shouldn’t give all of them equal attention.
Your vision gives you something to compare those choices against.
Does this move the team closer to the vision you’ve created? Does it reinforce the behaviors you want? Does it help your salespeople understand what good looks like? Is it solving something that’s getting in the way of where you’re trying to go?
Sometimes the answer will be yes.
Other times, you’ll realize something feels important because someone else has made it important. Or you’ve been doing it for so long that you’ve stopped questioning whether it still deserves your time.
Your vision gives you a reason to question it.
That might mean saying no. It might mean delegating something. It might mean deciding something doesn’t need to be done at all.
It might also mean putting a good idea aside because it isn’t the right idea to work on right now.
Your Team Is Making Decisions Too
Your vision shouldn’t only help you make better decisions.
Your salespeople are making decisions throughout their day without you. Which prospect gets another call? Which opportunity gets their attention? What gets done first when they don’t have time to do everything?
You aren’t going to be there for every one of those choices, nor should you be.
When your salespeople understand the vision, you’re giving them a filter too. They have a clearer picture of what matters and can make choices that support where the team is going without waiting for you to tell them what to do.
That’s when vision starts to become part of how the team operates instead of something the leader believes.
Knowing Isn’t the Same as Choosing
That’s what my question reminded me.
My challenge wasn’t a lack of ideas or knowledge. It was creating a process that helped me consistently choose what I was going to do and then actually do it while everything else in my business continued to demand my attention.
Your leadership vision can play the same role.
It won’t eliminate competing priorities. It won’t make your calendar less crowded, and it certainly won’t stop other people from putting things on your plate.
What it can do is give you a way to decide what deserves your time, attention, and energy.
There will always be a lot of things you could do.
Let your vision help you decide what you will do.