As my career progresses, I seem to get more outside pitches. This is obviously common for most people. As one becomes either more of a decision maker or someone who influences a decision, people responsible for sales will target you with emails and try to get you on the phone. 

As a senior in-house SEO professional, I’ve learned the importance of taking information from outside company walls to develop an outside-in perspective to SEO strategy. When it comes to a software or tool vendor, it can be tricky to digest if you need exactly what they’re selling because their pitch is often a solution to a problem they’re assuming you have. You might not have that problem. 

A few weeks ago, I took a call to understand more about a product. The rep jumped right to the problem and solution their company thinks is the one that resonates with people in my role. In reality, I don’t have that problem and don’t need that solution. So I moved on and decided for now, I don’t need this company to help reach my goals. 

I get why software companies lean this way. As it scales, a company needs to standardize and have streamlined pitches and processes so maybe it isn’t so much that reps should move away from having the problem / solution ready but that reps need to know when their problem or solution needs to be refined since it isn’t resonating. Or put together more evidence to support why that person has your problem.

Whatever side you might be on, I believe it is important to stay on your toes. If you lead in-house, know what problems you need help with. If you sell, listen and be open to hearing new problems. Not just the one your company is convinced is the most important one to solve. 

This is the last part of a 3 part series around signs of a high performing team. I talked in the first two parts about how meetings can go. First how one meeting has seamless transitions and the second about sequential conversations across meetings. Part 3 was born when I realized I wanted to provide a reason for why teams might be in a funk of unproductive conversations. 

If these things aren’t happening, there might be a strategy problem. Richard Rumelt’s book, The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists is a great resource on strategy. I love the opening paragraph (it is really all you need to know!): 

A strategy is a mixture of policy and action designed to surmount a high-stakes challenge. It is not a goal or a wished-for end state. It is a form of problem solving, and you cannot solve a problem you do not understand or comprehend. Thus, challenge-based strategy begins with a broad description of the challenge – the problems and opportunities – facing the organization. They may be competitive, legal, due to changing social norms, or issues with the organization itself. 

As understanding deepens, the strategist seeks the crux – the one challenge that both is critical and appears to be solvable. This narrowing down is the source of much of the strategist’s power, as focus remains the cornerstone of strategy. 

One of the key parts to a great strategy that I want to highlight is narrowing down and focusing. To do this, it is not just saying what you will do but being really clear what you are not doing and why because there is a high chance someone in your company wants to do that other thing for certain reasons. 

If there is no focus and you’re doing too many things, it is going to be hard for teams to have productive and sequential conversations amongst each other. 

To be a good strategist, be very explicit about what you aren’t doing and why.