Let's Be Honest

The Lead - Let’s Be Honest

This week I want to keep with the theme of looking back on the year as it comes to a close, with an eye towards the new one ahead. Last week we talked about strategy and how to think about making adjustments (big or small). But baked into what I wrote was an underlying assumption that I feel is worth addressing more explicitly this week.

The theme for this week is the importance of personal and honest reflection on our own efforts. I know this may sound simplistic and obvious, but stick with me here.

Regardless of whether or not this year was a success for you, I think it’s a safe assumption to say it likely wasn’t perfect. There’s room for improvement. Much of what I described last week, was making an evaluation on strategy really driven by an assessment of the numbers. Where did our results come from? What worked, what didn’t?

The assessment I’d like you to make now, is a more introspective one. It’s less driven by data, and more driven by honest reflection. The kind of assessment really only you can do.

If you’re a sales person, your numbers tell the story in the eyes of others. You hit your goal, brought on X amount of doors, sold Y amount of widgets etc. The person or people you report to ultimately think of your success/failure relative to where you ended up. It’s fairly black and white for the most part.

But is that how YOU judge your success or failure? It’s probably part of the equation but hopefully not all of it. Because even if you hit your goal, there may be part of you that knows you could’ve done more. If you didn’t hit your number, it’s entirely possible that the year was a massive success. There are a lot of factors that go into that.

I probably don’t have to tell you that some sales people struggle with ego. We like the scoreboard, the spotlight, the affirmation that comes with success. The other side of that coin can be a little ugly. We can be defensive, we don’t like the accountability, it’s never our fault. If none of this sounds familiar, I’m happy for you.

These tendencies can be a barrier to honest reflection on our own performance. This most commonly rears it’s head as excuses, blaming factors outside our control. The leads weren’t good, we didn’t have enough leads, our pricing is too expensive in this market, I don’t have the support I need.

I don’t want to dismiss some of these outside factors. Of course there are always things we can’t control. But if our reflection on our performance is primarily centered around these, then we can quickly find ourselves thinking we play no role in our success or failure. While we may use these excuses to justify our lack of performance to someone else, they aren’t going to help us get better.

In my experience, it’s much more difficult to put aside the outside factors and consider my own role in my success or failure. To be clear I’m not advocating that you beat yourself up, or be overly harsh. The truth is that this kind of honesty is often something only you can assess, and that’s why it’s so important.

I’ll give you a practical example from my own life. Fear of rejection is an aspect of sales that has always been challenging for me. Early on in my career, it kept me from taking action sometimes. The other way it manifested itself, was that when I did experience rejection it really effected me. I stopped picking up the phone, let my emotions get the better of me.

Here’s why honest reflection and self awareness matters on this - no boss I’ve ever had can read my mind. Unless I’m honest with myself about this challenge, no one else is going to address it with me. The second reason is that it shows up in the little things. A week where I’m off my game, I may not stay committed to consistent activity, getting the reps in. There’s a long tail effect on pipeline.

These things add up over the course of a year, and a career. A bad week easily creates a bad month. Lack of focus triggered by a particular distraction repeats itself daily. The only way to get better and perform at a higher level is to acknowledge these areas for improvement and address them. No one will do it for you.

So what I want to leave you with are a few simple questions that I think would be worth spending some time with. Pull out an old fashioned pen and paper and consider them. You don’t have to share it with anyone, but don’t lie to yourself.

What about my performance this year am I proud of?

What was my biggest win in 2025?

What are 2-3 things that would’ve made this year better?

What are the things outside my control that impacted the results?

What are my biggest opportunities to get better in 2026?

How will I practically speaking, take advantage of those opportunities?

For 2026 to be my best year, what’s the one thing I need to focus on?