In this article, I'm going to outline the 21 beliefs that drive how Sales Huddle works and runs. Why are calls limited to 5? Why must each person have to have their video on? Why is there no slack channel, job board, or member directory? Why is the structure and agreements so clear and strictly enforced? Why do members have to checkin with work statements vs having a subject matter expert teach them best practices?
The beliefs offer the answers to all of the questions. When I put on my product manager hat, these beliefs are my bible.
If these beliefs resonate with you, you're likely to find Sales Huddle useful. If not, then not so much.
Why am I sharing this?
I'm sharing this for two reasons.
First, The thing I most enjoy about building Sales Huddle is doing it it connection with the members it serving. So part of this is sharing the long term vision, where we’re at, and what’s next and how we operate. This is the filter that I use to make adjustments to the network.
I think this is both useful for existing and new members to know alike, so you all can get a sense for what we stand for and why.
This is a living document, I expect it to get clearer and clearer over time as my thinking clarifies and what makes Sales Huddle so valuable become more evident.
Second, I notice a lot of folks gathering all using the term community. I love this desire for everyone to connect, to get better, and help each other. It’s happening because we all need it. It’s all useful, valuable and at the same time all communities or networks are not the same.
Community means different things to different people and I want to be very clear about what Sales Huddle stands for and why. Everything that happens in Sales Huddle happens for a very specific reason, with very specific intentions. I call these reason beliefs, part vision, part mission, part values and principles.
Beliefs are what we believe to be true about the world. The inform, alone with the vision, mission and values of Sales Huddle, both how the network is run and how changes are made towards our goal. The focus on optimizing towards a very specific goal, in a very specific manner is that makes Sales Huddle so unique and valuable.
Lets discuss the goal. Everything in Sales Huddle is structured around creating better work rounds. Better means members are able to identify the root issue of a situation and determine and action to move forward so they’re not stuck. A work round is useful if a salesperson comes in feeling heavy, not sure of the action to take, not sure of what exactly the problem is and leaves feeling light and clear. They might have a specific action to take or they might have more clarify around the problem that they have.
Here are the 21 beliefs that run Sales Huddle
These are in no particular order, though they tend to be grouped with beliefs that are related to each other.
Clarifying and stating a challenge and asking for help is by itself a useful act. Often times, stating the situation out loud will lead to clarity for the asker. This is why Sales Huddle are driven by member driven work rounds.
Teaching is the best way to learn. By supporting others, we support and remind ourselves of what we should do in our own work.
Listening to others work can be personal work. Hearing another persons' situation often brings clarity and useful action to ones own situation. Sometimes bringing new light can break older, more rigid ways of thinking and approaches a situation that makes the way forward clear.
Each individual benefits both from giving support and getting support. This is the value of a peer-to-peer space.
Being seen and understood alone, can release tension and provide clarify of a situation. This is the value of presence.
100% non-judgmental presence is both what's valuable and in short supply, not "information", not "connection". We can google anything we want and connect with anyone we want for free. What's valuable and needed for honesty to flourish is unbridled, unwavering, clear, consistent, presence that is full of understanding and compassion. This is what I see time and time again that's needed and there are very few places that get it, as great as slack is, you're never getting unbridled presence there. It's our presence that allows honesty to flourish, with enough honesty, we can go deeper and get to the root issue of any situation. From the root, action can be taken. This is the space we want to cultivate.
Judgement is the enemy of honesty. Where ever there is judgement honesty will be stiffed. When honesty is stifled, tension, confusion, and feeling 'stuck' will ensure. Do not confuse a lack of judgement toward someone with implicit agreement of their words.
Iron sharpens iron. Sales training is useful and needed to build new skills, the hard part is keeping those skills and making them stick week in and week out. We show up to train together and keep each other sharp.
Structure equals freedom. The structure, values, and moderation of Sales Huddle allow us to train hard, stay safe, and get real work done.
"I don't know what I don't know". Sales is a practice, it’s impossible to be perfect, the world is always changing, we always need to train and we take this on as an adventure actively acknowledge our own not knowing.
Our sameness creates trust. The fact that we’re all in sales, are experienced, want to be our best, and help others, creates a trust that allows for listening and respect, so information can flow.
Our difference creates value. The differences between our experiences and knowledge is what allows allows us to help each other. Diversity is important and it's what creates value.
We values randomness and trust the process. Ah-ha moment’s come from the balance and randomness of when our sameness and difference collide. It cannot be reverse engineered, and we do not attempt to. We trust the process.
Identifying the root issue is always the first step. The most useful action come to a situation when we both get to and understand the root issue.
What builds strong and trusting relationships is the ability to share something that is both difficult and the truth and be honored for doing so.
Questions > answers when supporting others. To get to the root problem and the appropriate action, asking questions to understand their specific situation and lead someone, or give them the space, to find their own answer is preferred to giving them your answer. This way they have true ownership of their own solution.
Sales Tactics < sales strategy < ones character. The difference between a good salesperson and a great salesperson is character.
There are good problems and bad problems and not all problems are useful to solve, we focus on useful problems. It's important to know the difference between good vs bad, useful vs not useful problems and to be intentional with our work and focus on work that will upgrade our craft and support our mission.
To be our best, we focus on deliberate and consistent practice, not silver bullets, tips, tricks, or hacks. We share best practices when it's useful, our focus is on showing up, being honest, having the courage to say the truth, and putting the work in to drive change.
Often, we all know what we need to do, sometimes we may need another to reflect it back to us or help us see what we already know to find the solution
Signal > noice when it comes to feedback. Useful feedback is useful, all feedback is not useful. Getting multiple perspectives is useful, and also too much perspective is not useful. Feedback source, quality and quantity, medium, and context specifically has a large affect on the usefulness of feedback. Because sales is so nuanced, real time, face to face, matter most in getting to the root problem and solution.