| In a recent article, marketing guru Robert Middleton explained sales in the most profound way: our job is not to sell a product or a service, but instead to sell a positive future.
Middleton writes, “Everyone buys something for the positive future it will bring them.”
This is also our job as leaders: to sell our people a positive future.
Routinely we are responsible for doling out tasks, setting expectations, holding people accountable, and giving feedback on how people accomplished those tasks. We might even offer some coaching or mentoring to develop their skills to do those tasks more effectively or efficiently.
But we can do better. Instead of merely managing their tasks, let’s start connecting those tasks to the positive future it will bring them. Let’s talk about the contribution their work has on creating the future they want for their careers, for the team, and for the company.
The key is to position their efforts as the gateway to that positive future.
How to sell the future:
- Offer Context – explain the why behind the work
- Provide Perspective – share your vision
- Identify Goals – discover how they want to grow
- Anchor Tasks to Goals – demonstrate that one impacts the other
Offering context, perspective, and goals helps people see the big picture. Connecting the dots between their job and the future reinforces that their actions and behaviors contribute to (or contaminate) the potential for that better future.
When we lead, we have the opportunity to help people become bigger, better, bolder versions of themselves.
We just need to remember to sell the future in the chaos of the present…
ps. Robert Middleton’s article: https://actionplan.club/what-are-you-really-selling |
