Birds Of A Feather Flock Together

As humans, we are creatures of habit. We love routine, we love certainty and we love to be comfortable. Often this level of comfort can lead us to forming habits which become automatic and difficult to break, even if they are leading to suboptimal results. And often this can lead to us finding ourselves in a rut – a rut that is difficult to climb out of because it has developed such depth. The interesting thing about this is that the people you are surrounded by are more often than not in exactly the same position, and in the same rut. Because, as the saying goes, ‘Birds of a Feather, Flock Together’.

I’ll never forget the words an early mentor shared with me in the early stages of my sales leadership career. I was busy and totally focused on making my mark in the corporate world, to establish my sales leadership credentials and become successful. He said ‘If you want to be successful, hang around with successful people’. At the time, I thought what a simple concept and really did not give it much thought, but over the years, those simple words have become more powerful and more profound – and 100% correct. As Darren Hardy, successful entrepreneur says ‘Hang with those who have a common future, not a common past’. We literally do become like those we surround ourselves with. In fact, research suggests that you are the ‘average’ of the 5 closest people you constantly surround yourself with, so it is important to choose wisely.

As a sales leader, this is critical for your long term success. Let’s look at a number of areas and how they can have a massive impact :

1. Values & Beliefs – What do you value as a sales leader? What do you stand for? Is it honesty or integrity, authenticity or maybe playfulness? Whatever is important to you, identify it and lock it in. Then ask yourself whether your current circle of influence shares the same values. If they do, terrific, if not, guess what? Time to find a different circle of influence, because if you don’t, their values will gradually morph into your values. What do you believe about yourself, your business, your role, and your team? Are you glass half empty, or glass half full? Do you believe that anything is possible? What does your circle of influence believe? Are they on the same page? Conduct an inventory on your beliefs and then compare them with the beliefs of your circle of influence – hopefully they match.
2. Goals – Are you a big goal setter, setting those BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) that not only excite you, they also scare you at the same time? Do you set big goals for your team and actively encourage them to not only chase them down, but smash them? Are the people in your circle of influence also big goal setters and big goal getters? Hopefully they are, because if not, eventually you will find yourself lowering your eyes, lowering your expectations and lowering your goals. It is easy to achieve small goals – they don’t always require a lot of effort. And pretty soon you will find yourself in a rut.
3. Attitude – What is the attitude of the people in your circle of influence? Is it upbeat, optimistic & positive, or is it downcast and pessimistic? This is critical because everything starts with attitude. If you are surrounded by people who have a poor attitude, it will not be long before your attitude becomes the same, and again you will find yourself in a rut. So be very clear on the attitude you want to adopt, embed and maintain, and then seek out people with the same attitude to become part of your circle of influence.
4. Behaviour – There is a cycle that Tony Robbins often talks about; attitude affects your mindset, which then affects your behaviour, which then affects your results. What behaviours are you constantly displaying? Are they consistent, predictable, sustainable and most importantly, resourceful? Great behaviours are underpinned by strong and ethical values and these behaviours will deliver strong results. Are your behaviours consistent with the behaviours of your circle of influence? If they are, awesome! If not, guess what will happen? Be very clear on your behaviours that will drive success.
5. Income – Your income will be the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with the most. Are you earning the income you believe you are worth right now? If you are, congratulations. If you are seeking to significantly increase your income, you must seek out new members for your circle of influence who are earning the income you want to earn, and become like a sponge – ask them questions, observe them, and then model them. It won’t be long before your income will be heading north.
6. Education/Professional Development – Are you constantly educating yourself, seeking to improve, to increase your knowledge and your capabilities? If you are not, then neither is your circle of influence. Sustained success is underpinned by continuous education and professional development, learning new things and then implementing them immediately. If you and your circle of influence are not continuing to develop, then you will stagnate and the rut will become deeper. Apply CANI – Constant And Never-ending Improvement, and decide to be a life long learner.
7. Health & Fitness – How often do you exercise, and how often does your circle of influence exercise? Do you eat healthy food everyday, do you take time for lunch, or sometimes skip lunch altogether? If your circle of influence have developed the habit of either skipping lunch or eating unhealthy foods, what do you think will happen to you? Again, this comes back to values and what is important. It is very rare that a sustainably successful person does not have health and fitness near the top of their priority list. What is the point of being successful if you are not healthy enough to be able to enjoy the success?

I cannot emphasise strongly enough the importance of surrounding yourself with high quality people, who are aligned with you on all the above areas, being values & beliefs, goals, attitude, behaviour, income, education/professional development, and health & fitness. Now in an ideal world, you would find these people in your business and your role as a sales leader would be your ideal role. If you have that, congratulations. Many of us don’t. If you currently find yourself in an environment that is not supportive and aligned, then there are 2 clear choices – 1) seek out an environment which does match and is aligned, or 2) create an environment and a circle of influence outside of your daily environment that will enable you to prosper. This could be a ‘mastermind’ group on LinkedIn for example, or it could be a small group of like minded people who get together on a regular basis & form a strong circle of influence. Whatever you choose, you must be 100% crystal clear on what is critically important for you across all 7 areas, because ‘Birds of a Feather really do Flock Together’.

To your continued sales leadership success.

Darren

If you want to know how you can better lead your sales team, send me an email at darren@darrenmitchell.com.au

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Thank you for taking the time to read this post – I greatly appreciate it, and welcome comments and feedback. Please feel free to comment below, to follow me on LinkedIn, or to connect via Twitter, or Facebook.