“Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens,”
“Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,”
“Silver white winters that melt into spring,”
“These are a few of my favorite things.”
“When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad,”
“I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so bad!”
–The Sound of Music (1965)
I was walking on campus at Michigan State University the other week at a relatively brisk pace, and thought to myself, ”I love this time of year!” It makes me think about playing backyard football when I was a kid, going to bonfires when I was in high school and college, and taking the last few walks of the season through my neighborhood with my wife and daughter holding a warm travel mug of coffee. These were the thoughts that were wandering through my head when a student I work with at Southwestern came walking up.
I hadn’t noticed him coming as we were walking in opposite directions to different destinations. “Man, what has you in such a great mood today?” he asked as he came up. “You just get some good news or something?” This startled me and distracted me from my wandering train of thought. I had to stop and think for a second. Why was I in such a great mood? The day was no different than any other day. I had not received any great news nor had any amazing things out of the ordinary going on to be excited about. Then I remembered. It was so simple.
I couldn’t believe that my mood while thinking about fall days in Michigan could be so readily apparent that someone could spot it from 20 yards away without me saying a word. I laughed and told him what I was thinking about. Later, I realized how powerful this interaction was. I always knew that attitude was important, having worked with Southwestern Company in sales. Clearly no one wants to do business with someone in a bad mood. This completely misses the point! Not being in a bad mood is only 15% of the battle. The other 85% is being in an AMAZING mood!
When you have those moments in life where you are totally content and appreciating the little things, it is overwhelmingly powerful. You have a presence about you and a joy that radiates in all directions. People cannot help but be drawn to this. This is why in sales positions sales often come in clumps. We were not necessarily depressed, frustrated, or giving off bad vibes to people prior to the first sale in the string. We were just neutral. There is no power in neutral. After that first sale we feel GREAT! There is serious power in great.
Herein lies the difference between top producers and average producers for any company. Average producers may be able to “manage” their attitude to avoid being negative. Top producers actively cultivate an attitude of thankfulness. They appear to be coming off of signing ten clients in a row even if they are in a temporary slow period. So how do we cultivate this?
Remember the sound of music! Take a minute before you approach a potential client to refocus your thoughts. Don’t frantically think through what you are going to say, or stress yourself out over being perfect. Think about previous interactions with your favorite clients. Think about the best presentations you have ever given. Leave out no details. Remember the setting, the conversation, and the atmosphere. What were you thinking? How did you feel? Also think about little things in your life that you appreciate outside of business. Remember your favorite things. This has an incredible impact. You will emanate joy and enthusiasm. Master this and you will have the mindset possessed by all top producers and your potential becomes limitless.
What are some of your favorite things which help you cultivate a great attitude? Share a comment to help others.
Whether you sell books with The Southwestern Company, or you sell cars, or medical equipment or Coke products, or real estate, you’ve experienced failure. All of us in sales have survived setbacks, slumps, and difficult slow periods. Question: were we thankful for these challenges, or did they just make us upset?
When I was selling with Southwestern Company as a college student, I learned to take emotional pain in stride. One of my favorite affirmations was: “Something about today will help me become a better father, a better teacher, a better husband…”. In other words, I was attempting to put frustrating circumstances into perspective–I was trying to reframe the situation. I told myself, “Someday this will be funny–it’ll make a great story.” (Some of you may remember The Dirt Pile story, as an example.)
Most of us survived those sales ordeals, and the fact that we went through them made us better. Think about it–most of the stuff you’ve been through by way of pain has had a refining element to it. If you workout, you can relate to what I’m saying–you push yourself, you strain your muscles, you experience pain. (During my workouts with the Masters Swim Team, I often wonder why I’m swimming at 52…). When you’re finished, when the pain ends, you feel good, you look better, your resting heart rate is low, endorphins flood your body. (In my case, you smell like Eau de Chlorine.) When you compete and win, all the pain you went through is now minimized and in perspective.
And now to the world of music! I was listening to Alanis Morissette the other day while driving. If you’re a fan of hers, you can hear the pain and anger–especially in her earlier work. Alanis has faced some life challenges, but has worked through them and is even thankful for the experience. Check out the chorus of her song, “Thank U” :
thank you india
thank you terror
thank you disillusionment
thank you frailty
thank you consequence
thank you thank you silence
If you’re experiencing a tough period in your sales/recruiting career, be thankful! What you’re experiencing is on purpose. Pain is a teacher. Difficult circumstances are the great Kiln of Life, and your “impurities” are being burned out–like dross. Be thankful, instead of put out, by your circumstances.
Do you have a story or comment about the positive side of negative circumstances? Share!
Our marketing team at The Southwestern Company is listening to an audio project from Dan Sullivan called The Gratitude Principle. In it, Sullivan proposes that we can achieve endless progress and success in our lives as long as we are thankful each step along the way.
Have you ever met someone who was thankless? Someone who feels life owes them? (I can think of a few government entitlement programs at this point. Or ever witnessed an unhappy tot screaming because their parents didn’t give them what they wanted?) Lack of thankfulness is a huge obstacle to personal progress; Sullivan cites three:
1) People who feel sorry for themselves. These people see everyone who is getting ahead. Other people have so much! (”If I had the territory [insert top salesperson's name here] has, I could do well too!”) These folks find it harder and harder to improve their situation. They have no gratitude.
2) Self-made people. These people have done a great job working hard and creating their success, but they see all this as their own doing. They forget who helped them get where they are. (”Have you seen my latest sales award?”) They have no gratitude.
3) People “born on third base”. Some people live in advantageous circumstances and take everything for granted. As the saying goes, “they were born on third base and they think they’ve hit a triple.” When things go wrong, when it starts going downhill, these people get upset because “life’s not fair”. (”Someone’s to blame for this! It’s not my fault!”) They have no gratitude.
So how do we combat thanklessness and the negative emotions which ensue? We must understand that value & meaning are internally generated. Happiness and gratitude come from within. These states are a conscious act. In other words, we have to practice being thankful. Being thankful is not always a natural state of mind.
I heard once that the first sign of maturity in a young person is thankfulness. So since my children were little, I’d help them say prayers at night when they were going to bed. One of our first utterances has always been to talk to God about what we’re thankful for. My hope was that this attitude of gratitude would sink in, and this would mold their character for the good.
So here’s an exercise for you at Thanksgiving time: make a list of everything you’re grateful for. Your sales job, your health, your family, your friends, your country, the fact that you’re above ground! Engage the family. Have the kids make their own list. Don’t know what to say during the blessing before the big meal? Have people share their list! It is an encouraging exercise, and it can help you and your loved ones turn the tide of thanklessness.
What do you do to stay grateful? Comment and share ideas. Happy Thanksgiving from The Southwestern Company!
As Southwestern Company’s sales trainer, I’m always interested in seeing how other companies’ salespeople perform when they’re making a sales call. You might say I’m a keen observer of their techniques, or lack thereof.
This week, my wife and I were considering consolidating our phone services, and getting new phones for our daughters. We headed into a local long distance service provider store (OK, it was Sprint). We walked in; the store was empty. I was excited because I knew we wouldn’t have to wait for a sales associate to finish with another client–we’d get his full attention and expertise!
“Dave” greeted us as he looked up from his PDA (we’ll call him Dave, his real name was Jake.): “Hi. Welcome to
Sprint. May I help you?” Pretty neutral stuff. He didn’t look overly excited that we’d interrupted the game on his phone. Undeterred by his nonchalance, my wife cheerfully explained our problem and asked about phone plans and models.
Dave gave short answers to questions and seemed a bit annoyed that we couldn’t immediately decide how to reconcile 5 different users on 3 different plans. “Here’s the phone I like,” he said. “It’s made entirely of sustainable, biodegradeable, recycled alloids.” Or something like that. My wife and I looked at each other and thought–not a selling point for us.
Dave was not too engaged with us. Technically, he revealed some product information, but it was always in terms of his preferences, not our needs. He didn’t ask many questions; he didn’t offer many solutions. He watched us wallow in options. He did shut down one big sale though…the sale of an upgraded phone to me. How?
Background: I like buying stuff, and I like having the latest versions of equipment. I happened to show my HTC Touch Pro phone to Dave/Jake. He said something to the effect that 1) my model had problems and 2) the new HTC Titanium Quasar World Phone (something like that) was better. [Salespeople, remember: always question the customer's judgement by insulting their previous purchases.]
“New model?” I asked. (My wife quietly said, “Oh no.”) “What’s better about the upgraded phone?” Dave pointed out a couple cool new design improvements, then added, “But it costs like $549.” My wife attempted to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand–phone plan consolidation and phones for daughters. After a few minutes, I asked again about the advantages of owning the new HTC model. His response?
“Why would anyone pay that much for a phone?” Literally, that’s what he said.
Wow. (Like, “A BMW? Why would you buy that?’ Or “Who in their right mind would purchase a Goldmund Epilogue Full sound system?”) In short, are you nuts?
So, we quietly finished our conversation, without making a sale–a small one or a big one.
What are the lessons here?
- Make a good first impression. Be curious about your customers and their needs.
- Ask lots of questions.
- Listen for nibbles: hints that guide the direction your presentation should go.
- Let your customer buy. Forget your preferences and focus on what they want, not what you like.
Have you encountered a salesperson who should be in another profession? Share a tale! Or comment.
Did Tiger Woods ever sell books with The Southwestern Company? No. But he sounds as if he’s been out there: Tiger exudes self-confidence and is always visualizing success, always expecting to win. As the top-ranked player in the world, Tiger thinks differently than most of us.
He is sure of himself, but not cocky. Well, maybe he is cocky or possibly just very self-assured; nonetheless, it is interesting to see how he sees himself performing. Watch this very short BBC video of Tiger being interviewed. He is asked if he expects to win the Masters–the reporter is stunned into silence by Tiger’s one-word answer.
Click on this link to the BBB story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/7989253.stm
“Do you expect to win?”
“Always.”
Although Tiger is in some hot water right now (and didn’t win the Masters), his attitude and expectation about winning is something for all of us in sales to ponder. How does he do this? How did he attain this belief level? How can we emulate him as a true “top producer”?
Drop me a comment with your thoughts about how superstars get to be superstars in their mental game.
“I just can’t decide!” We were standing in line at a busy fast food restaurant, staring at the menu we were quite familiar with. “Uh…can I get…ummm…how about…? What should I get dad?” The customers in line behind us shifted, like cattle in a chute. 
“It doesn’t matter. Come on, honey, it’s not that difficult.” My youngest was agonizing over this standard menu. “Just pick something. Decide.” Gone were the days of a simple Happy Meal. The Gen Y worker stared at us, unhelpfully, wondering why I failed to teach my daughter how to make simple decisions. I could feel the cattle getting impatient.
“Just decide!”
Some of us make a huge deal over simple decisions–decisions of no real consequence: what to eat, what to wear, what music to download. Bigger decisions: who should I call on today? what attitude do I choose? should I close again? Biggest decisions: where to live, where to work, whom to marry. Certainly the big ones require more thought or prayer.
However, you find that if you don’t practice making decisions, you’ll tend to procrastinate, which in turn will reinforce a bad habit–indecision. A quick decision is often the best decision and is certainly better than no decision. My advice to you as a sales professional: practice deciding!
Research has shown that successful people tend to make decisions quickly and are slow to reverse a thoughtful position. On the other hand, people who fail usually decide slowly and change their minds a lot. So, make decisions and stick by them.
Decide to be on schedule.
Decide to really connect with prospects.
Decide to ask for the order.
Decide to become a great decision-maker.
Indecision is the greatest thief of opportunity.
Question: how do you make decisions? How do you weigh your options? Are you a Big Mac person, or do you go for the value meal? Better yet, how did you decide to sell another summer with Southwestern–in spite of your anxiety? Think about your mental process and feel free to share your thoughts with everyone.
I formed my habits, and my habits formed my future.
Whether it’s selling books with Southwestern in the summer, or recruiting friends back at school, or playing the piano, or speaking in public, if we practice long enough, we get good at it. Your habits are proficiencies born out of practice. Some are conscious, some are not. They are powerful–mostly because they’re too deep to be visible.
All our habits–whether good or bad–feel natural to us. You may be in the habit of skipping classes, getting wasted every other day, or working out each morning at 6:00 a.m. In high school, my son was in the habit of spending 3+ hours/day waging war on the live battlefields of Halo (level 48: he was poning noobs!) Now, in college, he is thankfully in the habit of studying hard and getting A’s.
Professionally, you may be in the habit of avoiding cold calls, or you may have developed a habit of NOT closing. We must be sure we’re noticing our habits and evaluating them. Ask yourself, “What is this habit leading me to?” Or, “Is this habit serving me well, leading me where I’d like to go?” (Why yes, I’d like to compete in the Halo 3 Xbox 360 Competition. OK, fine.) If not, discard your bad habit and replace it with a new and better one. Most of us do not consciously choose our habits–it’s much easier to unconsciously drift into bad habits…right?
Our habits form our future. So why not take action–purposefully–today? Begin a new, empowering habit: get up 15 minutes early for quiet time with your Bible, practice approaching someone (for business or pleasure) who intimidates you a bit, begin a workout schedule with a short run around the block, read an inspirational book at night instead of watching reruns of The Office. Little victories!
Every confrontation with an unfriendly habit is a victory! Every time counts. Decide: Today, I’ll begin to notice my habits–both positive and negative. I will be more aware of future consequences. Practice makes perfect.
(I’m interested in your thoughts and experiences with this topic–please share with a comment! Be bold.)
Since I am ostensibly in charge of Southwestern’s Sales School, I’m always eager to share (read “impose”) training wisdom on my kids. Katie, our youngest (12), is a good athlete. She plays a number of sports, but
loves travel softball. It’s no soft, coach-pitch league–the competition is pretty serious–year round tourneys, a World Series and 50+ mph pitchers.
Every week without fail, we take her to the batting cage to practice hitting. You can imagine how excited she is! “Can we just skip this week? Do we have to?” (And just for the record, we aren’t the stereotypical, psycho I’m-living-my-life-through-my-kids parents.)
“You play like you practice!” we say. ”If you want to be good at something, you have to do extra work!” “If you train hard, rewards will follow!”–all wise parental maxims.
So it is with sales improvement and personal growth. We may see no progress made by a long series of consistent, dogged efforts. You may study your sales presentation, gain product knowledge, increase your calls, improve your demonstrations…all without apparent progress. And then it happens. All of a sudden you turn a corner, a truth is revealed, a bad habit loses its grip.
But all this doesn’t happen suddenly. The gain was made, one close at a time, one call at a time, one swing at a time, by all the seemingly ineffective, probably forgotten efforts before your breakthrough.
Longfellow, the poet, once wrote:
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate,
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Have faith in the process of growth. Don’t expect a medal for each lap run.
What’s your story? Share a story or comment for everyone, please. (Oh, and good news! Katie batted between .500 and .700 with two triples in the last couple tournaments. Persistent effort pays off.)
Whether you’re a bookseller with Southwestern, or you’re in another sales career, you’ve probably heard or used the excuse “I just don’t have anyone to call on!” Fishing in a pond without fish is not fun. Our job is to find the ponds that have fish. There is a large body of water that a lot of salespeople seem to forget to fish in and there are 3 main pools of water you can pull from to fill your pipeline. The large body of water that is the holy water for salespeople that will keep them alive forever is REFERRALS!
3 Referral Pools
- ABC Lake- Asking for a referral from every person you meet
- Old Man Joe’s Farm Pond- Calling on existing clients and “farming your book of business” and asking for referrals
- Fish Hatchery- Developing a network of referral power partners who send business to you
True sales professionals know that prospecting is a vital ingredient in the recipe for success. In fact, prospecting should be one of your daily tasks. As you may have heard before, prospecting can make or break your sales effort – which is exactly why you need to do it well…but what does it take to be “good” at prospecting?
First of all, it’s important to keep in mind that prospecting is more than just a part time task…it is your livelihood. Prospecting should not be a duty that’s left only to “slow” times. Continued prospecting ensures constant growth, and can minimize income and production slumps. Your prospecting efforts should be viewed as an investment in the future success of your business. Basically, it’s an investment in your long term goals. If you’re consistently seeking out new leads, you guarantee yourself an audience regardless of market status.
Secondly, you should recognize that prospecting is a discipline. Rory Vaden says “Success is never owned, it’s only rented, and the rent is due every day.” It won’t matter how “good” you are if you don’t have the discipline to see it through. Much of being a successful sales person is perseverance and practicing a solid work ethic. Set prospecting activity goals for yourself and use a schedule to get there. Commit yourself.
And finally, prospecting should be viewed as a task that requires both quality AND quantity. Prospect well, but prospect often. Many sales professionals swear by the “triple rule” that says your prospecting efforts should exceed your expected sales by three times. For example, on the small scale, if you wanted to sell 3 products, you should prospect 9 potential clients!
Remember: never lose sight of what needs to be done! Get a handle on the commitment you’ve made to your own success and stick to your goals. Make sure you are “fishing” like a pro and asking for referrals. Ask yourself, are you really taking advantage of available resources? Are you procrastinating? If you are not working at your full potential get a coach or accountability partner to help you make sure you’re fishing in the right ponds and consistently have you line in the water. For more info on coaching go to http://www.ssnseminars.com/Sales-Coaching.aspx.
Decisions, decisions! Every day in our careers, in our lives, we are faced with making decisions. One of our Southwestern Company student dealers was sitting in my office trying to decide about whether or not to sell again. We discussed the pros & cons, how she felt. During the conversation, she said–three times–”I’m just not good at making decisions.” Three times.
Her self-talk was part of her problem; her habit of not deciding was another part. I shared with her that the more decisions she made, the better she’d be at making decisions. Making decisions is like working out: the more you do it the easier it gets–just like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets. (Wow, I’ve 
just incorporated a simile!)
I also thought it would be good for her just to practice deciding. We started off with easy stuff: where she would get lunch; what she would do back at school, etc. Doing reps with a 5 pound weight would be easy (this is what we call an analogy). Later, we discussed bigger decisions: her goals, her purpose, and her plans for next summer–heavier weights for sure.
I told her what I’d learned from Southwestern sages ages ago: that you have to decide not to decide! That procrastination is a decision–a decision to delay. I also shared that putting off decisions rarely solved the emotional challenge she was feeling.
I liken it to a pilot landing a plane in rough weather.
Have you ever been on board a plane that was approaching the runway, and then just took off again for reasons unexplained? Making a decision might be like landing a plane (another simile)–as you approach your “decision runway”, it gets tougher; there is stress. Deciding not to land, “taking a wave off” and heading back into the sky definitely reduces the stress of having to land, but you are still aloft! The holding pattern can only last so long. At some point, you need to land the plane (or decide). All the emotions, the fears, the stress–they are present whenever you decide. The momentary relief of procrastination does not solve the problem–it just delays it.
So guess what my advice is? Don’t delay. Decide! As Socrates once said, “I have heard; you have listened. You know the facts. Now give your decision.” Socrates was hard-core logical. (I’ll let you try to use that as a close in your next sales presentation.)
As a salesperson, are there decisions you need to make-soon? Are there clients you should be contacting but haven’t? The saying about “putting off until tomorrow what you should do today” is better said: “Do it now!”
