This week I had the honour of interviewing Don MacPherson for the Enterprise Sales show podcast channel. Don is an internationally recognized mind coach who has unlocked potential within elite sports professionals from the fields of Formula One racing, Rugby union and even a Wimbledon tennis champion.

Don is a warm and practical guide, who also helps members of the public with their anxiety and performance challenges.

He shared his view on the noise presented by accidental hypnosis. ‘Ask my wife, Jane, to play tennis and she will politely decline. She’ll say, “I can’t play tennis! I don’t have an eye for the ball or any hand-eye coordination.” But if you gently pry as to why she holds such a view, she’ll say it must be true because, “Everybody has always told me I am hopeless at tennis.”’

‘If you dare to go any further you might enquire who this everybody is. You may know a few: mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends, teachers… They are Jane’s “everybody” and probably yours! All are hypnotists who were in action from her first attempt to hit a ball. Perhaps she missed or miss-hit the ball, at which point I doubt she received much encouragement. It would have been more like “Oh dear, it doesn’t look like little Jane has much of an eye for a ball, shame...”’

I can relate to how Jane bought this external information. I know during the earlier stages of my career I did not trust my own instinct, yet trusted my line manager’s judgement much more. In turn, this left me vulnerable to his suggestions and manipulations. I was frustrated but was not sure how to overcome it.

I recall a late-night conversation with my late father who told me, “You have earned the right to use your intuition, as you have made plenty of mistakes.” I am sure here was a backhanded compliment there somewhere if I look hard enough…!

If you are struggling with anxiety or want to take your performance to a new level, I thoroughly recommend Don MacPherson’s recently released book, How to Master Your Monkey Mind - Overcome anxiety, increase confidence, and regain control of your life.

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]

Culture is dynamic and ever-evolving. Always involving people - it is fluid and can change extremely quickly. I have observed at first-hand how culture can be different even in two separate divisions of the same company – these different cultures were entirely shaped by the leaders of those divisions. One open collaborative and encouraging, the other controlling, individualistic and stifling.

There seem to be so many examples of poor leadership at present, that I am left wondering - are toxic workplace cultures inevitable? After all, we are talking about work and perhaps, we should just get over it and stop being so unrealistic in expecting working environments to be safe and open.

Then I think of the very best leaders I have worked with, both past and present. They build a psychologically safe environment; they give, creating a feeling of belonging and higher sense of purpose, rather than just expecting and taking the credit.

So, is ‘belonging’ the antidote to the toxic workplace?

Are we safe here?

In his book, The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle examines how high performing groups evolve through the world.

“Belonging cues are behaviours that create safe connection in groups. They include...proximity, eye contact, energy, mimicry, turn-taking, attention, body language, vocal pitch, consistency of emphasis, and whether everyone talks to everyone else in the group. Like any language, belonging cues can’t be reduced to an isolated moment but rather consist of a steady pulse of interactions within a social relationship. Their function is to answer the ancient, ever-present questions glowing in our brains:

Are we safe here?

What’s our future with these people?

Are there dangers lurking?”

Ajay Banga, the current Chairman of Mastercard, shared a story from early in his career whilst he was at Citibank. Sandy Weill, the then CEO, invited him to the senior planning group. Ajay was very nervous and looked and felt different from everyone else in the room. He explained during a podcast with David Novak that when he entered the room Sandy called him over and said:

“I am delighted you are in this room - you will make us better.”

This reduced Ajay’s stress and meant he was accepted and gave him a sense of belonging.

“Behaviours drive culture – culture drives results.” Anant Patel, Vice-President of WEX

Anant’s modus operandi comes from a deep-rooted belief, that to achieve stellar results, you must engage and build a safe environment where people can bring more of their true selves to in turn, produce their best work. A place where everyone belongs. He believes that a leader’s role is to enable people and get out of their way. To praise and not take the credit. For Anant, it is truly all about the team – “One team”.

What makes Anant a servant leader?

He genuinely cares about people, so it feels natural to him to...

Anant has a personality and approach that is all about growth...He loves learning, which is a valuable skill that he has capitalised on to stay constantly adaptive and move forward in his career.

Therefore so what?

So, what are your takeaways from this article to improve the sense of belonging in your culture?

Is it to be more curious about people and your team?

Is it to learn from those who have skills that can enhance your career?

Is it to stay where you are, with a fixed position?

We all have choices to adapt and evolve…now is the time to step up.

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]

"Culture is like holding the wind in your hand". Title came from Toni Minichiello podcast interview from Don't Tell Me The Score: Thank you Toni and Simon.

We have all got used to working from home, so it can be tempting to forget that office politics exist, and breathe a sigh of relief. In fact, they are still rampant, and, in many ways, we need to be even more aware of them and make them more visible.

Business mediator Clive Lewis who specialises in workplace disputes, believes office politics to be so prevalent, that he has written a book, Toxic - A Guide to Rebuilding Respect and Tolerance in a Hostile Workplace. He describes toxic behaviour, bullying and the minefield of office politics.

“Such behaviour is not only simply wrong and damaging to its victims, it also results in reduced productivity, higher employee turnover and can often leave a stain upon the wider reputation of an organisation.”

I have observed toxic environments and the effects on the lives and careers of people first-hand. The need by leaders and fellow colleagues to control and be in control is at the root of the problem. My observation is that with remote working, this need has heightened due to lack of physical contact. This has only added to the ‘command and control’ approach with crazy back-to-back zoom calls and daily forecast updates.

Rethinking your approach to politicisation within your organisation is vital in the current climate if you want to avoid being outflanked. With your visibility currently reduced, now is a good time to stop, reset and ask yourself, in terms of managing upwards and sideways:

• What should my next 90 days look like?

• What should my next 180 days look like?

Many organisations have not allocated enough resources or thought to this new environment to allow people to work from home effectively. For example, they haven’t allowed for appropriate breaks,” he notes.

Remember the film The Good, The Bad & The Ugly by Sergio Leone?

This is how it translates to office politics:

The Good - when your visibility enhances your personal brand.

The Bad – when you are outflanked to a promotion, a major account or don’t get the credit for landing a major account.

The Ugly - a nasty exit that could potentially damage your career and is mentally destabilising.

Here’s how:

• Realise that managing upwards is very, very important. So, ask yourself what you can do to make your line manager’s career easier and to help bolster their image.

• Understand your line manager’s priorities, expectations, beliefs, and attitudes - agreeing those is vital.

• Try to identify the most pressing problems that your line manager has so that you can look to solve those problems using your knowledge, expertise, and network of resources.

My office politics light-bulb moment

Like most of us, I used to find office politics a complete drain. That was until a conversation with a much-respected senior leader changed my perspective.

He commented that politics was inevitable within the company and noted how well I managed the politics with my customers. I knew how to navigate large, multinational companies and FTSE 100 businesses and did so very well for my customers. With that being the case, why wasn’t I managing office politics more effectively within the company that I was actually working in?

It was my communication skills that enabled me to navigate so well for my customers, yet I found that type of communication challenging when I had to do it for myself.

Communication in the workplace can be extremely challenging and, as George Bernard Shaw said:

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]

In my previous article I identified that the vital career and life skill of having confidence, is not reserved only for the privileged few see below:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6760144697471053824/

One of the key sources to confidence is inspiration from fellow humans, where they act as a ‘windshield’, showing you possibilities. Real inspiration says, "Me too, I can do that.”

What is a ‘windshield’ I hear you ask? A windshield is what you see in front of you that gives you inspiration; role models that give you an image of your future self. In his book, The Talent Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Skill in Sport, Arts, Music, Math and Just About Everything Else, Daniel Coyle gives the following example:

“In 1997, there were no South Korean golfers on the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour. [By 2009, there were] more than 40, winning one third of all events. What happened? One golfer succeeded (Se Ri Pak, who won two major tournaments in 1998) and through her, hundreds of South Korean girls were ignited by a new vision of their future selves. As the South Korean golfer Christina Kim put it,” You say to yourself, ‘If she can do it, why can’t I?’ ”

Studies have shown that even a short connection with a role model, no matter how minor, can improve your motivation immeasurably. Daniel Coyle continues, “What ignited the progress wasn't any innate skill or gene. It was a small, ephemeral, yet powerful idea: a vision of their ideal future selves, a vision that oriented, energized, and accelerated progress, and that originated in the outside world.”

The stories we tell ourselves frame our actions and attitude. We see this everywhere. Going to Eton must make you think at least you have a chance of being Prime Minister, regardless of your ability...it has never entered my head that I could be Prime Minister!

Inspiration and Opportunity matter - so how do we create more in our lives??

I have experienced my own career defining 'windshield' moment:

I had identified that Jeff Grout, (previously the MD of the recruitment company Robert Half International, now a bestselling author and speaker), could accelerate my career. These are the precise words I used to connect with him and gain a very valuable half-hour of his time, to ask him five key questions, regarding his success.

“Hello Jeff, my name is Adrian Evans. We have not met yet. I know you are a busy man, so I will be brief. I run my own search & selection business. Over the years you have done an excellent job of building the Robert Half business and moving into the public speaking and coaching arena. I have read and enjoyed a number of your books including ‘Mind Games’ (2004). I am sure you had many challenges when you were first starting out. I am still at those early stages, trying to figure everything out. I would really appreciate it if you would spend half an hour of your time to answer a few questions.”

This resulted in a very successful conversation between us, it gave me the methodology and path to not only write a book, but also be the catalyst for the belief that I could have a successful executive coaching career.

I would love to know your thoughts, comments and questions [email protected] Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at Sales, https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through:

the power of life-enhancing connections

shared experiences

and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]

I used to believe this falsehood when I was growing up on a council estate in south Wales.

It can be, yet Confidence is a Skill you can Learn and Earn the right to use.

Having confidence is vital for your performance in the work place. Confidence is variable per minute, per hour, per morning, per day. It is controllable but you must earn the right to have it.

Most people think confidence is a natural gift – you have it or you don’t.

If you don’t and you are not one of the blessed, then it is elusive; you would love to have it.

Yet, one of my life discoveries is that “authentic confidence” is a skill which is learnable via:

· Deliberate practice

· Effective coaching

· Expanded awareness

This can be a game-changer for your life and career. You can move to butterfly from caterpillar.

You need to have the audacity and confidence to believe you can achieve break-through targets and goals, allied with the humility to actually do it.

To gain this Winning Enterprise Sales Mindset, you need to:

• ‘Do the Do’ and call high to economic buyers

• Gain executive sponsorship

• Be accountable and get better each week

How confidence can be learned by anyone...let me explain from personal experience.

Confidence is gained by a strange mix in believing you can do something before you have proof i.e. the audacity, added to the humility of showing up and actually do the job, ‘doing the do’.

For instance, I had to believe I could write a book even though I was dyslexic. The odds were stacked against me, but thinking like that did not help.

I believed that I could (the audacity) so then started to write half a page a day (doing the do). Two years later, I published my first book!

No magic - just earned skill.

Right now, why not use your newfound awareness that confidence is a skill and apply it to your mindset and attitude?

Hold yourself accountable. Being accountable means identifying the most important high value activities you need to do each week. For an enterprise sales person, dialogue with key decision makers is up there. Check your accountability at the end of the week- what was the quality and quantity of conversations you had with economic buyers/ decision makers?

Perhaps you need to engage a coach who could help you achieve even more?

I have personally experienced so much wisdom and guidance from mentors and coaches in my life.

I am so grateful that they:

• Showed me new possibilities

• Raised my standards

• Created income opportunities

• Made stellar introductions

• Acted as guides, giving me the courage to explore new fields of skill within my career

What are you missing out on by not having a mentor?

When I refer to mentors, I am also referring to coaches or anyone who can show us an expanded way from our current thinking/skillset. As an example, even though I am an executive coach and very good at negotiation and presentation. I have multiple coaches who expand my perspective. I currently work with a negotiation coach, and a voice and presentation coach.

My overall message this week is that we are all ‘work in progress’! 2020 and 2021 has shown us how we must evolve and adapt, to stay relevant.

I would love to know your thoughts, comments and questions [email protected]

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]

Did you notice that it was “Blue Monday” at the beginning of the week?

The third Monday in January is known as Blue Monday, due to a combination of post-Christmas blues, cold, dark, wet days, unpaid bills from Christmas, a ‘dry’ January and generally being fed-up. And of course, in the current climate, the sobering Covid-19 figures we are presented with on an hourly basis in the media are even more reason to feel gloomy and down.

So, what can you do in these unsettling, uncertain times? You can Control the Controllable. You will feel more in the driver’s seat, be prepared and ready for whatever life throws at you from a career point of view. You will know what action to take in every situation; what happens if you are fired or made redundant? Are you having second thoughts about your current job, debating whether or not you should stay or move on?

Many people dread networking or perceived self-promotion - it can bring into stark relief the difference between someone with bravado who takes risks and someone who is more conservative and doesn’t want to cause a fuss. As President Teddy Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the thief of joy”. So, when you compare yourself to how others work and promote themselves, it can often make you feel inadequate and deflated, which in turn, threatens your confidence and self-worth.

However, if you think of your career journey as a series of steps on your own personal ladder, you can compare what you did yesterday to where you are today. Taking stock of each step on your own ladder, seeing the progress you have made, rather than comparing yourself to anyone else, is all part of Controlling the Controllable.

Start with a short exercise to help bring you career under control. It will help you identify what is most important to you in a role.

Rate these five priorities in order of importance:

· Your level of autonomy

· The culture of the company you work for

· Your opportunity for career progression

· The calibre of your leadership team

· The appropriateness of your reward for the value you bring to the company

Rate your current role on each, ranging from 5 to 1, where 5 equals an Excellent Match; 4 equals Good, 3 equals Needs Improving, 2 equals Not Much to Offer and lastly, 1, which is No Match at all.

If the average is above 4 - stay and position yourself as vital for business success.

If the average is between 2 & 4 – it is time to explore other career options

If the average is below 2 - time to plan your exit so that you can leave on your terms

I share this exercise to suggest that there is an alternative route. It is possible to be in control of when you choose to leave an organisation and for you to decide the impact it will have on your life. This is all part of the process of taking a step on your own ladder and looking at your own progress, rather than comparing yourself with someone else...how different this would be if he had been forced out or made to leave on the company’s terms instead. In addition, a further benefit for both parties was avoiding the dreaded ‘performance improvement’ process and any unnecessary legal costs.

Therefore, my core message today is be prepared and be ready – and if nothing else, remember, you can control the controllable, taking each step of your personal ladder one at a time, putting you in charge of your future career path.

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]

Is Your Job at Risk?

How would it affect you financially, mentally and emotionally if you were dismissed, especially in the uncertain times we live in?

Unfortunately, I have seen the, sometimes, brutal way employers let employees know that they are no longer required. I fully appreciate that we are in a rapidly changing world and business pressures lead to inevitable reorganisation, but a bit of human respect can go a long way.

The favoured technique of one CEO was, without warning, to take an employee into a room and fire them. In some cases, the employee had worked for the organisation for many years. Naturally playing on the element of surprise and bully tactics, the CEO would offer a package to the employee to leave immediately. And, if they walked out of the room without signing away their employment rights, the amount would be halved.

Thankfully, this kind of old-fashioned, out-dated behaviour is changing, but as an employee in our fluid, constantly changing world, you must always be ready.

My core message this week is that lockdown is NO excuse not to network, In fact, you have more time! Your job could be at risk if you do not.

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Imagine the impact of that happening to you…

Recently, a sales director who had overachieved on challenging sales figures for the year, was let go because the board had lost confidence in him. I took his phone call the morning after he had found out he was fired. He was absolutely devastated, in fact, so upset that he could not even speak and had to end the call after the third attempt. He thought he would never get another job in the industry and that he was worthless.

My most proactive clients are excelling in their roles, yet find the time to network every month and have potential jobs lined up in their pipeline even though they do not need them yet.

Accessing the hidden job market is key.

Remember, over 80% of job positions are not advertised.

So, you need to make connections – which 10 people would most accelerate your career right now?

Firstly, update your CV and social networking profiles such as LinkedIn and Twitter.

Next, build time into your day to make these connections – try 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. Taking this small amount of time to ensure that your career is future-proofed, is essential.

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Ask people from your network and in turn, their network, for positive referrals to key connections.

Put yourself in their shoes - offer your new connection a valuable market insight, article or a well-qualified business lead to build your relationship.

Be flexible, detach yourself from the results and do not take non-replies as personal. All feedback is about progress and resilience. Of course, not all of the conversations will be productive; just like most of business and life, the 80/20 rule applies. However, 20% of the conversations will produce 80% of the results. So, two connections may well end up being ‘career pearls’.

Finally, record all progress so that you are prepared and ready for the next step should you be made redundant or let go.

By making these key connections, you will have unearthed previously unknown opportunities that you can convert into live jobs. You will have put yourself in the driving seat of your career search because you will have little or no competition for these roles.

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]

‘Underselling’ yourself is detrimental to your career and can be as damaging as ‘overselling’.

Following on from my post of last week, I received a pertinent comment regarding the benefit of a “pre-review review”.

I love the idea of a pre-review review. There is a risk that it becomes adversarial with both sides defending entrenched positions if left until after the disappointing raise.

The comment went on to say that, I'm sure often employers don't think about it much: they just add a bit to the previous year's salary rather than deliberately deciding to keep people on the cheap.”

That is to say that employers don’t mean to under-pay, but that they are not prepared. I think this is a rather generous perspective; after all, if the employee is over-delivering, fully prepared and up to speed, the least one can do as a line manager is come prepared, having looked at and discussed salary and other issues in detail.

A client of mine was preparing for his annual review. He had significantly over-delivered in the previous year and was looking to set himself up for a successful year ahead. He wanted to be appropriately rewarded, yet did not want to be perceived as a ‘moaner’. We worked on ensuring his mindset was optimal. He agreed to deliver his message with accuracy and conviction, and to be firm in order to achieve the pay increase he was expecting.

We used the following message that we felt was a win/win situation for both him and his line manager:

My request is to have an £xxxK basic for the next financial year. In addition, I believe there is some scope for reducing my target, so I’d like my increase reduced from xx% to xx%, making it £xxK per quarter. That would incentivise and motivate me to succeed, ensuring that I qualify for the High Flyers Club next year. This would be in the company’s interests as it ensures targets are more likely to be reached.

The line-manager’s likely objections/questions could be:

· What do you want me to do about it?

· This is not standard practice in our business.

· You have never mentioned your ambitions to qualify for the Highflyers.

The net result of this was a 15% base increase (significantly higher than his peers), and his target increase was reduced as requested.

This advice is a just a sample of the value I can add. In partnership with Lisa Akesson, a World Class Voice & Presentation Skills Coach, we are offering a two half-day virtual course on “Impactful Negotiations for Women”, where we will be tailoring this methodology to the specific needs of the participants. Why not join us?

Learning how to negotiate effectively is such a worthwhile investment. It is an evergreen skill that you can use on a weekly basis to enhance your career, life and even the lives of your family and loved ones.

· Imagine being able to negotiate the job you want at the level of appropriate reward.

· Imagine confidently asking for that seat at the table and being given it.

· Imagine negotiating the resources you need to help your team function better.

Lisa and I have enabled many of our clients to achieve positive career results with confidence and our partnership brings a blend of unique skills. Lisa will enable you to take your space, own your voice, build rapport and communicate your needs in a negotiation with gravitas and personal power. I will help transform your negotiation mindset, results, and income. I regularly achieve significant increases in my clients’ income levels.

And remember, with every negotiation you enter, be it large or small, you are building a muscle and a skill that will serve you for life.

Drop a line in the comments section or a personal message ([email protected]) if you are interested. I will then send you the details of our programme.

‘Underselling’ yourself is detrimental to your career and can be as damaging as ‘overselling’.

I recently spoke about the truisms in the professional job market, and the skills you need to develop to navigate effectively. Today, I want to give you some practical insights that will enable you to succeed in gaining promotion, receiving a pay rise, or being offered a new job,

Most employees do not know their worth and are too afraid to ask for it, especially women. In her book “Women Don’t Ask”, Professor Linda Babcock notes that when women MBAs got an offer, only 7% of them would attempt to negotiate, as opposed to 57% of men. Research also shows that when women do negotiate, they tend to negotiate 30% less than their male counterparts.

In my experience, (I was a head-hunter for over two decades), most professional employees – both men and women - do not realise the true value they add to their company. I displayed this behaviour during my own career, until I applied my negotiation ability (that I practiced every day for clients!) to myself.

To own your career direction, knowing your worth in the external marketplace is very useful. You don’t need to be actively looking for the next role, yet if you are a high performer, I believe you have ‘earned the right’ to have a bolder conversation at annual review time. Always remember you have created significant value by performing at your current level; it’s an invitation to ask for ‘appropriate reward’.

Here is a simple guide to bring confidence, before you enter a negotiation. Start from a well-defined plan, position yourself as a premium employee, create options, and re-evaluate.

I want to share a story of one of my clients who was due to have an annual review in early 2021.

He was significantly over sales target in 2020.

He is a multiplier who mentors many people within his company.

He is happy at the company and enjoys the culture.

He is always looking to add value to his line manager and colleagues across the globe.

Yet did not feel appropriately rewarded for the value he adds.

He did not want to go down an aggressive route (and high energy investment) of gaining an external offer to justify a pay increase.

So, he asked for an early review in December.

He positioned his individual and companywide value to the key decision makers.

A significant (21% increase) in pay was agreed and confirmed before the new year.

I know this figure and timescale might look unrealistic or unreasonable, yet this is what is achievable when we take a relationship and campaign approach to negotiation. Too many people view negotiation as a ‘one-off’ big conversation.

Learning how to negotiate effectively is such a worthwhile investment, it is an evergreen skill that you can use on a weekly basis to enhance your career, life and even the lives of your families and loved ones.

This advice is a just a sample of the value I can add. In partnership with Lisa Akesson, a World Class Voice & Presentation Skills Coach, we are offering a two half-day results focused course:

“Impactful Negotiations for Women”.

Where we will be tailoring this methodology to the specific needs of the participants. Why not join us?

We will be exploring:

The power of building rapport in negotiations, the power of pacing and leading others and confidently hold your space to bring your dynamic presence to the table.

Drop a line in the comments section or a personal message ([email protected]) if you would like to learn more.

After a successful 2020 (despite all of the headwinds), many SaaS sales professionals are now considering their options. The central dilemma they face is:

“Should I stay with my current company or leave for a new challenge?”

There is always an inherit risk and never has there been a more uncertain time to make a career move. Starting at a new company could be difficult, as you will not be able to have a face-to-face induction or the necessary networking to set yourself up for success. More anxiety comes with taking a leap of faith, as it could lead further down the line to a disastrous situation of ‘last in, first out’.

Nobody wants to unwittingly make the wrong decision, leaving the security of your current company, where your personal brand reputation is strong and built over many years. Nagging ‘inner dialogue', comparison to others, and FOMO (Fear of missing out), are the modern day ‘the grass is greener on the other side’ scenario. People do not want to miss out or make a poor decision that could cost them dearly.

So, how do we solve this dilemma?

Due diligence is important but procrastination is crippling. I have observed many SaaS sales professionals spend far too long worrying about the actual career decision, and far too little time on the post-decision execution. The decision itself is important, but having made it, you need to proceed with all the energy, focus and resourcefulness to optimise...Leicester City were 5,000/1 to win the Premier League at the beginning of the season in August of the previous year. Bookies Paddy Power thought it was more likely that Elvis, who died in 1977, was found alive and well in 2016 than Leicester City winning the Premier League…Paddy Power had the King's resurrection down at 2,000/1!

To bring things back to 2021, I urge you to move from FOMO to NOMO – from “Fear of missing out” to “Necessity of missing out”. To make successful decisions, we cannot have it all – less is more, and prioritisation is key.

How to make effective current choices in enterprise sales:

· Acknowledge this is a quality/first-rate problem you are facing.

· Define your career purpose – what is your North Star? Mine is to positively impact 20,000 careers.

· Confirm how each role fits into your ‘next’ and ‘next, next’ career moves

· Measure each opportunity against your key criteria which should include:

Value proposition

Executive leadership team

Funding

Culture

Compensation

Role/Terrority

Calibre of line manager

Existing customer logos

Potential to overachieve…

If an external move scores higher than your current role, have an honest conversation with yourself - if not now, when?

Have the confidence in yourself to be able to handle the outcome of any decision made.

In order to reach better decisions, we all need someone to believe in us more than we believe in ourselves, like Ranieri and his football team. I myself was humbled recently when one of my long-standing clients provided feedback tackling an important decision about a potential career move:

“I would not be where I am today without you, Adrian. You persuaded me to act and leave my former company. I would have done my normal thing and stayed put. Then you helped me secure the new role right through to gaining promotion. “

Sean Gregan, Sales Director, Oracle

Thank you for your comments Sean – much appreciated!

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]