Many experts tell you that you need to plan your goals so you know where you’re going. This only makes sense; otherwise, it’s like starting a journey without planning the route. But as a leader, you can’t get where you want to go without first understanding where you’re starting from—and once you do, you must stop hesitating and go at the goal in a clear, straight line.

I’ve spent my career taking the direct route to success, so I was excited to see that approach laid out in leadership coach Dusan Djukich’s best-selling book, Straight-Line Leadership: Tools for Living with Velocity and Power in Turbulent Times.It’s so clearly aligned with our philosophy at United Franchise Group (UFG). I give it to our employees and franchise owners to help them engage in honest self-appraisal and decisive action.

I read 40 or 50 books a year (Straight-Line Leadership being one of the best) and share my top choices with others as part of my belief in lifelong learning. I also write one book a year, for eight years now, which is one of the ways I mentor people coming up behind me. I love connecting with resources that will help them achieve their dreams. Books are one of my favorite tools for learning effective leadership and management skills, and Straight-Line Leadership has been influential within the UFG community. Straight-line leadership has been my way for almost my entire life.

YOUR INNER STANCE

I was a pretty average student in high school and college, but when I got out into the business world, I quickly realized I could rise to the top by outworking everyone—which wasn’t that hard. There were people who were so afraid to look bad that they wouldn’t make the decisions needed to move ahead.

Turning uncertainty into action starts by analyzing what Djukich calls your “inner stance”—the place where you begin your journey. He defines the stances of three personality types:

1. Circle people: They “talk around and around an issue instead of being straight and solving it immediately,” Djukich writes. They hesitate and insist they can’t act because they need “more information,” and never seem to have enough.

2. Zigzag people: Similar to circle people, zigzag people constantly shift from high achievement and uncertainty. One moment, they’re excited by the latest business trick or trend; the next, they’re hemming, hawing, and staying in place.

3. Straight-line people: Simply put, straight-line people get things done. They focus on the road ahead, and they move decisively toward it.

I’m definitely a straight-line leader; that’s who I am and what I do. I see people who flip-flop based on their personal feelings or things going on in their lives, but it’s the people who can compartmentalize and focus on the business—and don’t bring their problems to work and stay positive—who achieve what they set out to do.

Djukich calls this “a problem versus a decision.” Everyone has problems, and they stay problems until you make a decision about what to do and move forward. That’s true whether you have a problem to solve or a project to begin working on.

Zigzagging is a behavior common to many salespeople, Djukich writes. As each sales cycle begins, they surge forward and push to their goal, and then relax and “zag again” as the new month starts.

PRINCIPLES OF SELLING

I’ve seen zigzagging and circular behaviors in salespeople I’ve worked with, so I offer some solutions in my book, Selling Today. They’re time-tested principles of selling, from consistent cold calling to enthusiastic presentations and an organized, systematic process for getting to closing. Here are three of the many that can help you win:

1. Consistent messaging: All salespeople should have a standard presentation template. It will be tweaked for each proposal depending on the product, service, or offer you’re pitching, but the overall message must be consistent and strong. You won’t get that if you keep changing the presentation and think you can wing it (you can’t).

2. Attentive follow-up: Cold calling with constant follow-up is what sales is all about; it got UFG through the pandemic. It can’t be emphasized enough how many sales never come to fruition due to a lack of follow-up. It takes time and commitment to the process.

3. Daily sales review: Set your sales goals and then work backward to plan the steps it will take to get you there. Like Djukich, I believe in deciding where you want to go, creating a plan to get there, and then choosing to work the plan. Review the plan every day to make sure you’re on track.

Reading Straight-Line Leadership was like getting a thrust of energy to keep doing what we’re doing and encouraging others to discover the direct line to success—in business and life.