I walked into the sales office immediately felt like I was suffocating. The air was so heavy and thick. There wasn’t a fire or an issue with the building. It was the negativity in the office that was a complete energy drain.

I left the streets of a bustling city full of energy and vibrance and entered a dark pit of negativity. What was the cause? A dry sales pipeline, underperforming sales team not meeting their quarterly goals in almost a year and extreme impatience of the sales leadership and owners.

Impatience is something that many, dare I say most, business owners and leaders can relate to.  We are so passionate about the opportunities we create.  We have a vision that often-times others cannot see.  When things don’t happen as quickly as we imagine…it can rattle even the most seasoned entrepreneur.  I’ve studied a little bit about right side and left side emotions over the past year, and it is interesting that impatience is on a quadrant with other emotions like pessimism, anger, overwhelm, and resentment. These are harsh emotions that when at the center of our focus, become a debilitating hindrance to business growth.

I often find myself talking about patience with my hotel partners. I share with them the realistic sales cycle. I show them factual data that points to the reality that their sales pipeline has been dry, and the work we are doing today will show results in 6 – 18 months…not today. It’s a hard pill to swallow when we as business leaders have bills to pay, mouths to feed, investors to please. I get it. I can feel the pain of the hotel leaders and owners that I work with, and it is what fuels me and drives me to do more to help them.

However, I want to share a little secret. No sales person…not even the most outstanding sales person…can fix impatience.  

Making more money and earning more revenue in your business is really quite simple.

You must have faith…and move your feet. This is my mantra taught by my business mentor.

Have Faith

The opposite of impatience for me is faith. So, what does that mean exactly? For me, it means I feel confident in the strategy I have set, because I’ve followed my process, listened and learned from those who have lived through my situation.  I can lean into that faith and trust that the process and system will work and we will be in a better place tomorrow.  It is confidence, conviction, optimism, and hopefulness.

Move Your Feet

The reason I can be grounded in the faith in my business is because I am doing the work.  Moving your feet means doing the work it takes to succeed. It doesn’t mean doing work that is just to “show” your owner that you’re working hard when you know those actions aren’t the ones that really matter. And owners, it isn’t about demanding your team take actions that are not effective. Face it…when we are in impatience we get reactive and sometimes even unrealistic about what makes sense. Don’t fall into that trap. Do the work that matters and follow the basic systems and processes!  Far too often I have to talk a sales team off the ledge of doing something that just does not make sense because their owner is questioning their strategy. When we are in overwhelm or impatience it is best to go back to sales 101…back to the basics. Start there, but most importantly move forward.

Then always have faith and be IN positivity. Allow the process to unfold. Have patience. Patience is a choice. It is not a struggle unless you make it a struggle.

I am realizing that my impatience as a business owner does not “light a fire” under my team to perform better. My negative emotion actually deflects positive results.

Behind the curtain, I see owner stress and impatience every single day. I’ve been there myself. My message to hotel sales teams and leaders serves as a reminder that impatience for most of the hotel owners I interact with is driven from passion. The passion differs for each owner, but we all have it.

My challenge to hotel owners and sales leaders in hospitality is to turn your impatience into faith. Lead your teams to move their feet, move your own feet and watch the magic unfold. Don’t overcomplicate the business by bringing in negativity and impatience.