1). The different types of comfort zone – Have you ever managed a top sales performer who stopped giving things their all? For some reason, they went from doing whatever it took to be successful to sitting back and doing just enough to get by?
There are a couple of reasons why people fall into a comfort zones and start coasting.
- Number one – they're tired and need to take a rest. After months of putting in extra effort the effects of long hours and/or extra stress are catching up with them.
- Number two – they're in an economic comfort zone. They've started making a certain amount of money and, in their minds, that's enough to maintain the way of life they desire.
Comfort zones happen for everybody, including you as a sales leader. How do you break your comfort zone?
2). Create a cookbook to crush your comfort zone – A cookbook is a list of daily behaviours needed to achieve a short-, medium- or long-term goal. Creating cookbooks with your team helps shift your management focus away from results and towards day-to-day action.
It takes attention away from things your team are not 100% in control of (sales results) towards things they are (what they say and do every day).
The pressure to hit a certain revenue target every month can be exhausting precisely because no-one is 100% in control of it.
However, the pressure to hit a certain behavioural target every month is empowering because people are in 100% control of what they do every day.
It's the equivalent of taking the focus away from losing 10kg in weight and putting the focus on simply walking 10,000 steps each day and eating no more than 2,000 calories.
If you do the steps and stick to your calories every day, you will achieve your weight loss goal. Plus, you get a clear, actionable target that gives you something to celebrate achieving every day.
By breaking up what people need to do into a daily behavioural plan, you put people in control and give them a clear plan to achieve and push past comfort zones.
3). The root cause of comfort zones – Ultimately, comfort zones are attitude issues. By changing their behaviours with a clear daily behavioural plan, you change their attitude.
How do you push past comfort zones? Create and stick to daily cookbook behaviours. Your job as a sales leader is to know who's in a comfort zone and who's not, including you!
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