Professionally, personally or organizationally; growth is the one thing everyone desires. Not

everyone, however, is successful in their ability to achieve it.

Butler Street, a growth company ourselves, and a firm whose mission is to help companies and their people grow, has been capturing data around growth success for the last 6 years. Our Research division set out to understand why some companies consistently achieve top and bottom-line growth and others do not. Why some professionals consistently succeed and grow in their roles and others do not. And what, if anything, are the commonalities and lessons we can learn.

Not surprisingly and unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to growth, and we find this statement to be fact:

The difference between the successful person and the unsuccessful person is this; the successful person is in the habit of doing things the unsuccessful person doesn’t do.

You can replace “person” in the statement above, with company or sales professional, or recruiter, or executive, or team, etc. and the same applies. There are habits required for success and many people simply don’t get in the habit.

Our research has uncovered a few common habits of those who experience consistent success and growth and I’d like to share some you can implement today.

1. Agreements

Successful people are in the habit of living up to every agreement they make. They don’t make agreements that conflict with their personal or professional ideals and they also understand what skills, actions, activities, interactions are required of them to meet their agreements.

Growth companies have clearly defined expectations for each person in the organization and implement them as agreements. They then manage to these agreements and hold each other accountable to them. Growth companies do not allow people to remain on the team if they continually fail to meet their agreements.

Actions to immediately implement:

• Review your role and capture all the agreements required of you

• Commit to being in the habit of meeting every one of them,100% of the time

• For example, the number of calls you need to make, the reports you need to send, the communication style required, etc.

• Leaders: help everyone on your team gain clarity around this and consistently manage to the agreements (hint: start with your position profiles/job descriptions)

2. Relationships

Successful companies and individuals are hyperfocused on others, not themselves. The best sales professionals are always focused on solving their customers’ problems for they are keenly aware that by doing so they will be rewarded in so many ways – from gaining business, to referrals, to recommendations. Organizations who succeed in this area are relentless about their customers’ experience. They take measures to understand their customers’ expectations and structure their organization to deliver on these expectations at every touch point. They actively seek opportunities to let their customers know how much they are appreciated and track their success in this area. Growth companies survey their customers and associates and reward behaviors that build relationships both internally and with their customers. It’s all about relationships.

Actions to immediately implement:

• Make certain your top priorities are 100% focused on helping your customers and your team succeed or strengthening your relationships with them

• Leaders: consider performing a Net Promotor Score survey, Voice of the Customer and Voice of the Associate assessment to determine the strength of both your customer and employee relationships and where you have opportunity for improvement

3. Action

Maybe – just maybe – there IS a silver bullet. And if so, this would be it. Action. Successful people are in the habit of doing things the unsuccessful person doesn’t do. Successful individuals show up willing and ready every day to take action on their agreements and build relationships. They stay in the habit despite obstacles, the daily whirlwind, frustrations, lack of sleep, etc. They know that in the habit means the right actions all the time, not some of the time. All the time; not just when you are behind. Just like any star athlete, world class musician, revered leader or professional superstar; the key to getting there is consistently, always-no-matter-what, taking action on the things that matter and… its what others just don’t do.

Actions to immediately implement:

• Identify at least one area where you have not been executing 100% of the time

• Examples include pre-call planning, role-practicing your sales calls and/or internal presentations, blocking time to prospect, checking in on customers, service recovery calls…anything you know you should do 100% of the time, yet don’t

• Leaders: Coach! Your role is to help everyone on your team get in the habit and stay in the habit. Coaching to this is Job ONE and requires delivering the right feedback and the right time and consistency. It is not passive it is action.

So, the reason some people and organizations experience great growth despite declining markets, less than state-of-the-art technology, lack of support personnel, etc. while others with all the best processes and technology flounder is this: The difference is the focus and energy the organization, and the people who are a part of it, place on Agreements, Relationships and Action.

At Butler Street, we help companies and their people grow through consulting, training and research. If you’d like to implement these and other growth lessons, we’d love to support your efforts. Contact Us...

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