The Why?

I’m re-sharing this post from last year because I really want to highlight that Sales, when done right, is the best profession in the world.

I’m re-sharing this post from last year because I really want to highlight that Sales, when done right, is the best profession in the world. When done wrong, it’s the worst. Unfortunately, I’m starting to see a lot of old school bad sales (think Glenngary Glen Ross) come back into the mix today and it’s concerning me.

If you think that Sales is like the Wolf of Wall Street or Boiler Room, please rethink why you’re doing what you do.

Original Post

If you’ve been following me recently you know I went to Gary Vaynerchuk’s 4D (Daily Digital Deep Dive) workshop where I got exposed to all the different departments over at VaynerMedia. Heads from each department came in to present to a group of 15 of us and walked us through their strategy and thought process on various topics including social, brand building, creative, and others. Gary came in at the end and did a two hour Q&A to share advice with each of us based on our respective business challenges. It was a fantastic day and I got a lot out of it.

One of the main takeaways I left with was a reminder to take a step back and make sure I was clear on the “Why?” Why am I doing what I’m doing from a big picture standpoint? They called it your ‘Brand Unifying Reason for Being.’ It’s also known as your ‘Vision’ and/or ‘Mission.’ Regardless, it’s important to be clear on this because it should drive all your decisions. I even wrote about this a little while ago in a post called Everyone Needs a Vision.

4D at VaynerMedia

I also work with some amazing companies who have their own incredible visions. For instance, Salesforce sees a world with “No Software.” LinkedIn is about a shared sense of purpose. Check out their CEO Jeff Weiner talking about it in one of his posts back in 2012.

I went through the VaynerMedia creative team’s exercise to redefine my “Why” and Brand Unifying Reason for Being. I came up with this: “Sales is the greatest profession in the world when done right, it’s the worst when done wrong. Let’s do it right.” There’s a lot behind that statement but for the purposes of this blog we’ll keep it brief. The next step of the exercise was to develop your ‘Pillars of Behavior’ that supported your unifying reason for being and then develop shows and content around each to be distributed through the various social channels. Here’s what I came up with:

This was a great exercise to go through that I highly recommend. Even if you’re not an entrepreneur or business owner I believe strongly in having a vision and setting longer term goals for yourself.

It’s also important to know what your values are so you can keep reminding yourself of who you are along the way.

John Barrows at VaynerMedia

Lastly, this exercise prompted me to finally get off my ass and get on Instagram. I launched my new Instagram account this past Monday just in time for my vacation to Italy for two weeks. Hopefully I’ll figure it out so I can post some sick pics of the trip for you to enjoy. If you want to check it out, look for @johnmbarrows, same as my SnapChat and Twitter. By the way, I’ll also be Snapping about my trip and having some fun there too.

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