Filling Your Sails – and Making More Sales – With Sisu | Danita Bye | Sales Gravy Articles

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Filling Your Sails – and Making More Sales – With Sisu

Written by Danita Bye

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Nothing Happens Until Something Moves

We all have the “profitability gene” within us but it will remain latent unless we make and take a bold stance and decide to make something happen. Is there anything worse than living in constant state of inaction or paralyzing fear? Yes,…I believe it’s called a state of regret.

At Sales Growth Specialists we believe in SISU

Rarely does a single word capture the spirit of an entire nation, but for the Finnish, sisu is that word. Though there is no precise equivalent in English, the essence of sisu is unbending will, unwavering determination, and unapologetic perseverance, no matter what’s looming on the horizon. Isn’t that what we as sales leaders and managers need to tackle the uncertainties that we face?

Sisu not only sits at the heart of a Finn’s approach to life, it’s the core leadership quality needed to compete and succeed in a business environment where the waters are as likely to swallow your ship whole as to provide smooth sailing. For us at Sales Growth Specialists, sisu is the way we do business – and it’s the way we help our clients develop predictable, sustainable sales. It’s the way we coach business leaders and managers to stay the course and do what’s right for their companies, despite the obstacles they face.

Too many organizations these days are lost at sea – a sea filled with excuses, stifled potential, indecisiveness, dullness, and a host of other dangers that slowly deflate the sails of corporate vision and eighty-six the sales needed to succeed. In response to this black sea of failure, sisu offers a few “C's of its own, beginning with an organization-wide shift from constipation of the mind to creativity that’s more than a match for any business problem.

Constipation to Creativity
An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail. – Edwin Land, co-founder of Polaroid

A big part of the sisu approach to adversity knows that even when there are no good options, there are some options that are better than others. Complaining doesn’t make for more or better options; all that behavior does is kill faith and dull creativity. And when faith is dead and creativity is constipated, the situation can only get worse. Having sisu means following even mediocre options doggedly, and that’s an expression of faith – faith in personal power and faith in the power of creativity to open the way to better solutions as you go.

In effect, sales management leaders with sisu on their side are saying to the world, “No matter what you throw at me, my creativity always gives me the last word – and that word is sisu.”

Couragelessness to Confidence
One man with courage is a majority. – Thomas Jefferson

At its core, couragelessness is turning away – from challenge, from opportunity, and from oneself. It’s simply disengagement, and it’s the opposite of sisu, which mandates clear-eyed confrontation. Not that those with sisu don’t experience fear; they do. But they put fear to the side, acknowledging its presence and denying its supremacy. In fact, those with sisu value their fear. It is, after all, simply a way for the self to protect the self, and combined with sisu, it turns indiscriminate engagement into measured, yet confident, action. Those with sisu know that there can be no real confidence without fear, and there can be no cowardice when turning away is not an option.

A lack of courage in selling is also a turning away. It’s antithetical to the very nature of sales leadership, which by definition requires engagement. The sales leader with sisu, however, puts this fear in its place, not denying it, which would be a lie, but befriending it – and turning it into a base for real confidence that outlasts any threat.

Confusion to Clarity
Clarity affords focus. – Thomas J. Leonard, author of The 28 Laws of Attraction: Stop Chasing Success and Let It Chase You

Soldiers speak of the “fog of war” when describing the uncertainties and confusion of battle. Where is my enemy? What is he capable of? What is the right course of action? Am I up to the task of winning this war?

To the last question, those with sisu would say, “Undoubtedly, yes." I may not know where my enemy is, but I will find him and best him. I may not know the right course of action, but I will act, and modify my approach as necessary. And I will win this war, no matter what.

Simply making the choice to win the war – to make the tough decision – clears away the uncertainties and the confusion and dissolves the fog that stands between the sisu-enabled soldier leader and certain victory.

Contending to Community
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sisu is not a wild-eyed devil’s rush forward where angels fear to tread. Though it will never stop in its tracks, it will not forsake the resources at its disposal in the pursuit of singular glory. Those with sisu move forward with their allies, leveraging the collective wisdom, insight, creativity, and capability of the group. For those who embody sisu, individual honor is appreciated, but it’s never as important as completing the mission at hand.

For the sales leader without sisu, business is a “them or me” jungle. As the sales management leader acquainted with sisu could tell him, however, “them or me” always and inevitably becomes just “them.” The sisu-powered person knows that she is capable of individual success, but long-term advancement is a community endeavor, and there are no excuses for not using all the resources available to you.

Complacency to Calling
Each honest calling, each walk of life, has its own elite, its own aristocracy based on excellence of performance. – James Bryant Conant, chemist and Harvard University President

Those with sisu do not settle. They do not take the easy way out; they do not accept anything less than the best that they’re capable of. That is laziness and fear of failure, and those terms are not part of always-moving sisu’s vocabulary. When a calling calls, sisu answers.

A sales leader with sisu recognizes that a calling is a supreme gift, one that will never be given again, should it be refused. This leader treasures his calling, directing every moment of his working life – and in many cases, his personal life – to answering that call. He knows that fear of failure is nothing compared with the regret of mediocrity. He knows that laziness is shockingly ungrateful, like spitting in the face of the Gift-Giver – and ultimately, in his own.

Conforming to Courage
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. – John F. Kennedy

Conforming requires a norm to conform to. But what is a norm but a line in the sand drawn by someone else? While some norms are useful and objective, such as those determined by sales metrics, others are products of subjective – and often deeply buried – groupthink. Excuses, for instance, may be part and parcel of a sales team’s day, and if you can’t actively participate, you’re expected to at least nod and smile.

While she values teamwork, the sales management leader with sisu rejects this sort of sheep-like behavior. Confronted with an excuse, she’s not afraid to challenge the excuse-maker’s assumptions, just as she’s not afraid to challenge anything else. She does not go along to get along; she blazes her own trail – not foolishly but in recognition of all the facts in hand. She doesn’t mind making an enemy; she makes the likeminded friends who matter. She has the courage to stand up when those around her threaten to pound her back down, like an errant nail. She shines a light, and slowly, the eyes of the team around her open, breaking the steel of the old groupthink and forging a sharp and strong sales culture that stands responsible and answerable for its results.

In a very fundamental way, it’s that sense of responsibility that serves as a fixed and reliable North Star that guides every one of these business “C” changes. Though it’s impossible to condense all that sisu stands for into a single English word, accountability comes closest. Those with sisu in their backbones are accountable for results. They’re accountable for their responses to adversity. They’re accountable to others and to themselves. And, in the end, it’s the all-weather accountability of sisu that makes for business captains who can navigate their organizations to profitable ports through even the most challenging seas.

Danita Bye
		About the author:
		Danita Bye, speaker, sales turnaround specialist, sales acceleration guru and author, believes "Timing doesn’t have as much to do with business success as learning to deliver and committing to results at all times – regardless of competitive landscape or economic conditions." Behind her Fortune 100 experience, discipline, expansive entrepreneurial spirit and drive, she delivers uncommonly profitable results - like 8% new business growth during a recession and 40% higher margins. Bull or bear, bust or boom, recession or recovery, Danita gets results for her clients. But more importantly, she teaches them to get results for themselves – without compromise, without excuses, without fail. .