In order to grow sales and leads inside of an independent contracting company, leaders and team members must both possess passion, drive, and the will to succeed in their industry whether in HVAC, plumbing, or electrical. You can have all the manpower, knowledge accumulation, and investment resources but without drive, ambition, and perseverance ultimate service excellence and business success cannot be attained. Vince Lombardi (renown and respected Green Bay Packers Coach during the 1960s) described the importance of this driving will in his strong quote: “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” This quotes gives such insight to true business ambition and in our post today we are going to explore the components that make up this willpower:
-Never succumbing to the “I have arrived” attitude-
Growth and development in the independent contracting world is all about continuing to develop new ideas and beneficial advancements in order to meet the needs of clients and meet the demands of changing markets. When we succumb to the “I have arrived” attitude, we leave no room for growth. We can easily become arrogant and let pride overcome our ability to see needs and great opportunities. This type of attitude feeds us the lie that “we can rest” because we are “ahead of the game and competition.” While there is nothing wrong with taking a step back to admire growth and success, we must still stay in reality and realize that success is not a destination but rather it is a journey that requires great will and perseverance.
-Refuse to live with an entitlement mentality-
When we live by the understanding that we must work hard in order to succeed and move forward then we can overcome the natural tendency to sink into an entitlement mentality. It is not written in stone that if we complete task A, B, and C that we are entitled to company growth, client retention, or more leads. This type of mentality makes companies unproductive and stagnant because they get too caught up in thinking “that’s not fair” or “I deserve more” that they don’t use their time and energy to keep pushing on to make headway or taking time to revisit their plan. We are not entitled to automatic success, we must work for it by becoming a service company that builds relationship with clients and has a passion for their industry.
-Deny the desire to make setbacks an easy way out of perseverance and hard work-
Along with overcoming the “I have arrived” attitude as well as an entitlement mentality there must be a remedy for the pain of setback and minor failures. It can be so tempting to call it quits when we hit an obstacle but we can overcome this desire to fold when we make up our minds that ultimate failure is not an option. When we commit to this idea then we can see setbacks for what they truly are—learning experiences. We grow and develop our companies in a successful manner when we make perseverance and willpower the name of the game.
The will to succeed, grow, and press on is something that must come from a deep place within an individual. Will and resolve is not something that anther person can simply impose upon their coworkers but rather it must be something that each team members develops and displays on their own. In our post today, we look at three very important aspects of willpower: obliterating an “I have arrived” mindset, tossing the entitlement attitude, and quenching the desire to give up because of setbacks. Each of these avenues make up strong willpower and resolve that can work to grow a strong service company. Thank you for following our weekly post. Here at Service Excellence Training, we turn learning into earning!
-Resource curated by Whitney Stewart of Service Excellence Training
