Find a list of your network of friends and business associates (e.g. LinkedIn, Outlook, Twitter, Facebook, SFA, ERP, etc.) and do the following exercise. You might be a little surprised by the results.

The Network Exercise
This will take more than a few minutes. Do this in an environment where you don’t feel rushed. Be honest with yourself too. Go through all of the people on your list and identify people with all of the following attributes:

• They challenge you.
• They hold you accountable.
• They push you past your fears.
• They are a confidential sounding board.
• They aren’t judgmental about you.
• They are open to discussing any subject.
• They make you feel safe.
• They see your faults for what they are but accept you anyway.
• They are blunt with you when necessary.
• They will always be a listener when that’s all you need.
• They remind you of the promises you made to yourself.
• They don’t praise you when it’s not truly earned, but will flood you with praise when deserved.
• They will always be on your side, no matter what the cost may be to them.
• They don’t keep score in the relationship.

Let’s Analyze The Results
If you’re a man, you will find two or three people who fit the above criteria. Don’t be alarmed. This is normal. If you’re a woman, you’ll identify about seven individuals who fit the description above. Women are better at maintaining these kinds of relationships than men. But that’s for another sales blog post.

Who Are The People On This List?
Some of these people will be close friends, some will be customers, some will be fellow employees, some will be family, some will be a combination. No matter what classification they happen to fall in, they will help you grow in your sales career.

A few people in our lives who actually care about our success can make all the difference in our sales career. They prop us up, set us straight and give us a push. And they seem to intuitively know when we need these things.

Companies can throw sales managers and sales training and sales seminars and sales mentors and sales coaches at us all week long (some do). However, we are a social species of animal; we need other people who take a real interest in us in order to survive and thrive. Just ask Abraham Maslow.

Sales Blog Epilogue
We may have hundreds or even thousands of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn “friends,” but buried in those numbers are just a few diamonds who not only help us with our sales career, but also help us with life. And we all know that in a sales career, it’s difficult to separate the two.

Further reading:
Life’s 3 Priorities, Part 1 of 3
Life’s 3 Priorities, Part 2 of 3
Life’s 3 Priorities, Part 3 of 3

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>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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