Accountability
Article:
What Great
Sales People Do
Note:
Have you ever heard someone say, "We're all salespeople!"
It's a fine philosophy, but in reality the profession
of selling is a specific occupation that brings its own thrills,
disappointments, problems, and rewards. Knowing that in most
organizations someone is deemed a "salesperson," we
ask, after you've read the QBQ! QuickNote below, that you forward
it to the department, team, or individual accountable for pursuing
prospects, closing sales, and bringing in revenue—and
anyone else you know to be in the business of selling. Thank
you.
----------------------------------------
In 1988, I had the honor
of lunching with Marvin Schwan of Schwan’s Home Service.
I was a 30-year-old sales guy selling leadership and
sales training programs. Living in the Twin Cities, I made the
drive out to the farm country of southwestern Minnesota, where
the corn grows tall and the mosquitoes even taller. As I dined
in a Marshall, MN diner with this soft-spoken billionaire owner
of a wildly successful diversified food firm and his VP of Sales,
I was told something I'd never heard before:
"John, sales
cover sins. And lots of sales cover lots of sins."
I probably didn't quite
get it then, but I think I do now. When the economy
roars, organizations commit all types of crimes, like over staffing,
failing to treat clients like kings and queens, not spotting
market trends, ignoring customer input and the competition—all
while allowing inefficient systems to exist. When money is pouring
in like there's been a break in the dike upstream, it's easy
to not be our best. And for the salespeople who bring in the
revenue, something really sinful happens when times are good:
They become order takers.
I recently read a news
story about people who live on straight commission or salary
and commission combined and how they are struggling in today's
economy. A financial services salesperson was profiled,
and in the discussion of what he and his wife needed to cut
from their budget like eating out, Caribbean vacations, fancy
coffee drinks, and cable TV, he lamented to the reporter: "We're
hurting now because we're living on just my salary whereas a
year ago my commissions were three times my salary. And, of
course, there's not much I can do about my commissions."
Pardon me?! Isn't that
what salespeople do, are personally accountable for? To work
hard and work creatively to bring up the commissions? In other
words, to sell more?! Just ask Derrick Watson. In the
exact same industry, 31-year-old Derrick, of the Edward Jones
investment company, appeared on my doorstep one Monday morning.
I don't know about you, but I don't particularly care for interruptions,
and since I work out of my home, the delivery guys, the mail
lady, the neighbor saying our horse, Roxie, is running loose
down the road—are all distractions.
So when the doorbell
rang, I was ready to scream, CAN'T YOU SEE I'M PASSIVELY WAITING
FOR ORDERS TO COME IN!? GO AWAY! But I didn't. There
standing before me was Derrick, in a sport coat and tie, wearing
a pleasant smile. As he quickly introduced himself and offered
me his card, I noticed a car—his car—parked up the
street. It didn't take me long to figure out what this guy was
doing. I could hardly believe it. He was ...
Cold calling for new
clients!
Simply put, he wasn't
sinning at all, but winning. Winning by risking emotional
pain. The pain of rejection; of having a door slammed in his
face; of having the phrase "Not interested!" seem
more abundant than the Colorado sunshine. It's true: Winning
salespeople risk the pain, while the rest of us just take orders.
While talking with Derrick,
I had a memory of how I started my selling career calling strangers
all day long from a basement furnace room (aka "home
office") in Brooklyn Center, MN in the late 1980s, asking—sometimes
begging—for appointments. The prospects were sales managers,
vice presidents, and CEOs, all way older than I was at the time.
Like Marvin Schwan.
John, sales cover sins.
And lots of sales cover lots of sins.
It's true, we "experienced"
salespeople sometimes forget from whence we came—and the
blood, sweat, and tears we invested building a client base.
And for some young salespeople today, they've never known the
pain, for the dike had crumbled and all were flooded with business.
The sales came so easily, the fundamental skills of picking
up the phone and knocking on doors to talk to people who might
say "Scram!" have not been acquired.
But it's time to confess
that we've sinned, that sales have come with little
effort, and to acknowledge, at least for now, the rains have
ceased and the easy selling has dried up. Time to do what great
salespeople have always done:
Be like Derrick.
So salespeople everywhere,
go ahead and make that call, risk the pain, and help someone
today. You, your colleagues, the boss, everyone in
the organization—and maybe even the new customer—will
be very glad you did.
John G. Miller
Author of QBQ! and Flipping the Switch
With Kristin Lindeen
QBQ! speaker/workshop facilitator
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are doing to increase employee morale and productivity while
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