Having a great plan isn’t enough. The problem is that we all have an Achilles' Heel.  Frank Belzer’s post, “5 Ways to Restore Your Sales MOJO for 2013!”, offers great tactical advice and provides an outline for a sales plan.

I’m a good planner, but consistent focus and discipline can be a challenge.  Like many of you, I suspect, I alternate between firing on all cylinders and a semi-stalled engine.  When I’m on my game, I’m very focused.  For me, 2013 is about keeping my sales mojo and paying more attention to my Achilles' heel.

As a teenager, I loved science fiction.  I was a Star Trek fan, read many books by Ray Bradbury, Issac Asimov and Kurt Vonnegut.  My favorite though was J. R. R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.  Tolkien’s Trilogy, preceded by The Hobbit, was his life’s work.  He literally created the languages and developed ' of history for his stories.

While his works are based on the classic “good vs. evil” metaphor, they're also about struggle, adversity and the human condition.  Bilbo (The Hobbit) goes on an adventure which challenges his complete being.  In The Lord of the Rings, his oldest cousin, Frodo, is tasked with the unthinkable - saving the world from evil.  Despite the overwhelming odds against these lovable Hobbits, they somehow found the will to continue and thrive, driven by a purpose for which neither asked nor knew they possessed.

Salespeople face enormous challenges, including rejection, disingenuous prospects, loyalty, politics, unaligned self-interest and even themselves.  What is your Achilles' heel?  Can you identify and describe it?  Are you doing anything about it?

I believe the biggest challenge which salespeople face is looking at them in the mirror each day.  Whether it’s the challenge of Commitment, Desire, Outlook, Rationalization, Willingness to Change, Open-Mindedness, Humility or Tenacity, we need to honestly identify and work on them each day.  We'll make mistakes, but continuing to put one foot in front of the other is the essence of what Star Trek's Captain Kirk referred to as the "human condition".

My challenge for you is to identify your sales force's Achilles' heel, put a plan together to address it and stoke the fire each day.

Last night, I had the pleasure of listening to Aaron Davis, a member of the 1994 Nebraska National Championship football team.  His enormously passionate message offered practical thoughts on sales leadership and our challenges.

It’s said that all I really need to know I learned in kindergarten. Examples include: 

• Share everything.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt someone.
• When you go out in the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder.

Aaron’s message, like the kindergarten lessons, was timeless and applies to every aspect of our lives from being a successful sales leader, parent, spouse, friend or employee.

• Find out what your “why” is and live it.
• Listen more than you speak.
• Discuss the elephant in the room.
• Make sure everyone understands and believes the purpose and intent.
• View change as an opportunity.

None of these ideas are new.  They have been passed down from generation to generation.  What’s important is how we live and manifest them in our daily lives.  As I thought about Aaron’s message, it struck me that sales leaders assume that if we properly communicate and reinforce these principals, our salespeople will integrate them into their selling habits.  While intellectually this is true, it doesn’t mean our team member will be able to do this without help.

For example, it’s intuitive that having clearly-defined personal goals will lead to better results.  Going to the gym, making the weekly date night a priority, calling your friends or relatives and being mindful of what we eat make sense.  In sales, Desire and Commitment are the two most important drives of performance - Commitment being paramount.  The real issue is why this is important to them.  This is the more difficult question to answer, one with which many sales leaders are woefully inconsistent and ill-equipped to help their people answer.

The biggest problems which we face are the non-supportive beliefs of our salespeople. As Aaron put it, championship teams don’t spend time thinking about why they might lose.

The good news is you can identify these non-supportive beliefs and the limiting weaknesses which influence the “why”.  The chart below comes from a top-performers vs. non-performers blog post which my colleague Dave Kurlan wrote.  It empirically identifies what sales leaders need to know to help their salespeople improve.

If you are committed to being a top-performing sales leader, you must coach your people on the real issues.  To do this, you need to know what they are.