You are only as valuable as your last sale. You are only as valuable as your Rolodex.
Have you heard these lines before? Do you believe them? Do you live by them?
I hope you’ve heard of them, but I hope you haven’t based your career on them.
There are some that think what makes them valuable is their Rolodex. While this may be true … there is more to it. Your rolodex has been developed by your efforts. Your rolodex is a result of your reputation. Your reputation is what makes your valuable.
Your Rolodex is only good if people will actually return your calls or emails. Your last sale is indicative of something. That you can ask for the order (this is HUGE) and that you have been able to be quiet long enough for the customer to say yes. Your reputation precedes you and defines you.
You can’t buy a good reputation, you have to earn it. ~Dan Schnabel
People of all ages and all stages of life wonder — What Makes Me Valuable?
- Why should I get the job?
- Why should I get the promotion?
- Why should I get the raise?
There are a few simplistic answers. Things like “I deserve it” or “I’ve earned it” are often heard, but these are just platitudes. Your reputation is worth a lot more than a few platitudes. In order to develop your reputation you need a few things.
Proof
You need to constantly show what you have done.
Completion
This is the BIG ONE!
There is an old saying: What gets measured gets done!
This statement has been attributed to Peter Drucker, Tom Peters, Edwards Deming, Lord Kelvin and many others. The reason this quote is so often repeated is because it’s so true.
You are Measured by what you Deliver. So, make sure you are being measured by the right things. Make sure you set SMART goals so that you can Deliver. Sticking with your goals can be difficult. It takes fortitude to keep going.
Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you. ~Denis Waitley
At the end of it all … What Makes You Valuable is what you Deliver, what you do, and a little bit of how you communicate these completion efforts. What you deliver defines your reputation.
Putting it into Play
Make Lists, Document Your Plans, Ask for Help Achieving your Goals (when and where appropriate) – which makes them even more powerful because they become Shared Goals, and finally Share what you’ve accomplished. Not in a bragging sense. Just in the sense of … I did this and this one is done. Next!
Pretty soon you will get the next job, the next promotion, the next raise. So, what’s stopping you? How are you developing your reputation? While you are at it … you should develop a reputation report card to keep tabs on how you are doing.
Author:
Jeff is a veteran in the Enterprise Content Management industry. Over the past 20 years he has worked with customers and partners to design, develop and deploy solutions around the world. Jeff is currently the Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle. He has worked for Microsoft, FileNet (IBM), K2, Captaris, Open Text, Kofax and Kodak. He speaks and blogs about ECM and the Intersection between Social, Mobile and Cloud Computing.
