What a disappointment on Saturday evening! No doubt there will be any amount of analysis and recriminations over the coming weeks and months, especially if England loses to Australia in the Rugby World cup next week. So what went wrong?

We could argue forever over the team composition, (I for one think it was the wrong selection in a number of positions) but ultimately it came down to leadership on the field and decision making in high pressure situations. England lost their way badly in the second half, Wales gradually reeling in our score and ultimately winning by one kick. However with stronger leadership this would never have happened – Martin Johnson would never have let a 10 point lead slip in such an important game. I have recently been reading the “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John C. Maxwell, and two of those stand out for me, those being the law of respect and the law of victory. Whilst people like and admire the captain Chris Robshaw, I am not convinced that people respect him enough, consequently when the chips are down and victory is in the balance, the team simply don’t believe in him enough to ensure we always win the tight encounters.

I think this is reflected in his decision to take the line-out rather than kick for a draw in the final 3 or 4 minutes. It was almost as though he felt the need to show off to his team and crowd. A good leader would have weighed up the risks involved, and even in the cauldron of Twickenham, would have made the right balanced decision. Instead he took the risk to prove himself to others, and may well have ended up taking England out of the World Cup.

Earlier this week I took a day off to go to an auction in London. My mother had wanted to sell something, and we were both intrigued by the process, having never been to an auction before.

The whole sale was going to last about 4 ½ hours, so we weren’t going for the whole time, but in the end attended for about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Because it was so long there were two auctioneers. In the morning there was a lady, who I soon began to suspect was still learning her trade. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, everyone has to learn sometime, but the interesting thing was that I could feel her lack of confidence, which in turn made me (and presumably others) less confident in the whole process. A few very minor mistakes were made, but on the whole most things were sold for in and around their estimated values. When we returned in the afternoon there was a new auctioneer who I immediately felt much more comfortable with. He was assured in his actions and speech, he was very clear about who was winning the bidding, and he was much faster in the whole process. He too sold most of the lots, but interestingly enough he achieved much more than the estimated amount on numerous occasions (5 x more in one instance).

Now this may just have been coincidence, but somehow I don’t think so. When someone shows confidence in themselves and their product you will tend to feel much more comfortable buying from them. It comes with familiarity and practice in your sales process. So remember if you want to sell more, know your product, know your process and above all portray confidence.

You know that feeling when everything is getting on top of you, with so much to do, and not enough time to do it? It becomes almost a feeling of desperation, and you wonder how you will ever get through it all, and perhaps most of all, where should you start, because everything seems to be a priority. That is the time when best to take a deep breath and sit back from the business and analyse the situation properly.

The trouble is, because everyone feels like it needs to be done “now”, you also think that taking time to consider your best options is time wasted, so you tend to just dive in and start ineffectually doing little bits of everything. This was very much the case with one of any clients recently, and worse than that because he felt that things were on top of him, he was waking up early trying to work out the best way forward, and consequently he was also overtired, which is never a good thing when making decisions.

And that of course is the key – making decisions. For most people uncertainty is the cause of the greatest worry, and therefore if you are flitting from one thing to another, never making decisions or finishing anything, you simply tend to exacerbate the problem.

So taking time to think things through, (or talk them through with your coach) is invaluable. Writing down all the key things which need to be done, and by when, makes it much clearer in which order to deal with your issues. Understand more clearly what exactly needs to be done with each of your issues, write down what actions need to be taken, and then start to knock them off one by one in entirety, not just partially.

Having a clear plan of action, provides certainty, and with that more confidence. Bit by bit you will soon find that you are back on track, and sleeping a whole lot better.

I remember someone once saying “if you don’t keep track of the score, what is the point in playing the game?” or words to that effect. The reason this phrase came back to me was that I have recently been working with a client, who whilst he actually does set targets both for the business as a whole, and for his sales team, he doesn’t hold them to these targets. In other words even though they have only hit target 3 times out of 8 months, nothing has been said.

The trouble is, that this sets a precedent throughout the business, because essentially although the business owner has agreed on clear targets with his team, and hitting targets is a stated responsibility for each salesperson, they are not held accountable for their short-falls. The same thing therefore would logically apply throughout the business, or at least that would be the likely inference which others could take. Overall the business is doing well and they are planning to grow into new markets, and in so doing are taking on another salesman. Imagine his reaction at the first sales meeting if he sees people failing to hit target time and time again, but nothing is said. I can’t imagine he would feel particularly motivated to drive himself forward with any great enthusiasm or energy.

Clearly things must and will change on this front, but the point is no doubt there are many other business owners who do exactly the same thing (or who don’t even set targets!). So the next time you come to the end of the month, check if you have hit your targets, and if not what are the consequences? Don’t give yourself or your sales team excuses, look for ways to ensure you make up the short fall next month.