What Do We Really Work For?
It’s worth asking, every so often, what we’re really working for. My answer keeps coming back to the same thing: focus on people first, and the rest of the sales career tends to sort itself out.
When times get tough as they no doubt will, and we put so much stress on ourselves, Then think of the people who matter the most And for a moment put that stress on the shelf.
For it’s the ‘stuff’ that we think people worry about, The cars, the toys and the shoes, And making the numbers is part of the game But not if it’s family you lose.
As we head into a new year and century, too Let’s see if we can balance the scales Where we work real hard, of course we will do, But we focus on more than the sales.
We focus on people – what they want and they need In the office and even online, Whether it’s quality time, or words of praise Just let’s not forget our personal lives.
So to finish up this note, and from my family to yours Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! And I hope to catch up with you sometime soon And help strengthen your sales career!!
5 Reasons to Focus on People First
When we strip away the targets and the noise, the reasons we really work usually come back to the same handful of things. Here’s what tends to matter most when you focus on people first:
- The people who matter most in our lives – not the numbers on a scoreboard.
- Quality time, not just quantity of deals closed.
- Words of praise and genuine recognition, in the office and online.
- A sales career that still leaves room for a personal life.
- Connection and conversation, which is what a sales career is really built on.
None of this means the sales stop mattering – of course we work hard and of course we chase the numbers. It simply means that when we focus on people first, the numbers tend to follow, and so does a career worth having.
Bringing This Back to Your Team
If you’d like help teaching your sales team to focus on people first – without losing sight of the numbers – Bernadette McClelland’s keynote presentations are built around exactly this balance of purpose and performance.
Why This Still Matters in Sales
Every sales career eventually runs into the same crossroads: chase the number this quarter, or build the kind of relationship that keeps paying off for years. The two aren’t always in conflict, but when they are, it’s worth remembering to focus on people first.
That’s not a soft option. Teams and clients can tell the difference between someone who’s genuinely curious about them and someone who’s just working the pipeline. The sales professionals who focus on people first, consistently, are usually the ones with the longest client relationships and the least burnout.
I’m Bernadette – founder of the Decision-Led Revenue™ Operating System and The Revenue Leader of Influence™, where I work with CEOs and sales leaders to build a sales team they can rely on to think, make the call, tell the truth about pipeline and own the result.
If any of this resonated – or if you’re staring at a revenue problem that feels like it should have been solved by now – I’d love a conversation.
BOOK A NO-OBLIGATION 20-MINUTE CALL
And if you’d rather join the discussion, you can also join me on Substack. That’s where the Revenue Leader of Influence community is starting to have these conversations in real time.
