Southwestern Sales Talk
“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.
Wow, this is so true! Not being in a bad mood is not very powerful, but being happy and enjoying life is SO attractive. People want to be around you and they want to share in that joy. One of my favorite things to cultivate a great attitude is thinking about how much I have to be thankful for: An amazing family, a great job that impacts people, good friends, a fabulous girlfriend, financial security, and so many more! I can’t help but smile.
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Aaron – you make a tremendous point. When ever I get excited about an idea or something I am pitching, the enthusiasm is contagious. The same holds true for a selling situation. The saying “attitude is everything” is so true. What a good sales person has to do is harness the attitude into a controllable emotion in a way that is real. Any prospect can see through a phony, half-hearted sales pitch. Thanks for your perspective on this (and for making me have The Sound of Music songs in my head)…
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Aaron, I think you nailed it here. This is something your great at doing, and something I noticed a while back in our first few interactions. I remember even one time asking you “how do you stay happy all of the time?” and you said something like, “well I’ve got a great wife, great job, new born baby and no one in my family is sick, what could I be possibly upset about?”
Most people are thankful for what they have in there lives, they just normally don’t reference these things unless something really great has just happened to them or if something happened that reminded them of all there blessings.
Referencing these things on a daily basis is key and is something a lot of us can work on. Great post!
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Wow, a math man and a great writer…what an awsome combination! This is such an awsome story, and I find that what helps me over the summer to cultivate that great attitude is really and truly living through your buying atmosphere! I remember having so much fun on Saturdays with moms just by telling them in my buying atmosphere that it didn’t matter if they bought or not because the next day was sunday and I was going to have a feast waiting for me! I learned really fast that on the days I believed that it didn’t matter if I sold anything, were the days that I sold the most! On the days that I tried so hard to do everything perfect and tried to be “good in sales” were the days that were just “ok.” So how do we get excited and stay excited? We have to think about all of the little things that help us to realize that our job can be a blast, if you let it be! Tell yourself everyday that nothing else matters but having fun! I used to listen to country all of the time because it made me feel so good and I would find myself singing at the door. If you are a chill person with Mrs. Jones, she will be chill too. Whether it’s collecting water bottles, counting the number of cows you see in a day, or doing cartwheels in the street– find something that helps you to take your mind off of selling books and put it on doing things that make you radiate how much fun your job is!
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
December 12th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
great insights, Christie! thanks for your comment–getting into the sales zone is a challenge: you have to be focused and you have to be carefree at the same time.
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Aaron,
I recently went to an “interview” at an upscale bar in downtown Charlotte. While I was waiting to speak with the manager, I sat at the bar and started a conversation with the bartender, Pete. I found out that he was from London and has lived in Charlotte for the past 10 years. He lived in Australia for 3 years. Finding out this information in probably 3 minutes. I told him about SW and that I’ve sold books door-to-door in a different location for the past 4 years. We talked about that for a bit. Then he asked me a question that I have never been asked before, “Jenny, where do you get this confidence from?” At first, I didn’t know what to say. But I answered with “selling books door-to-door.” With his European, smart aleck sense of humor, he didn’t believe me. When I was on the drive home, it made me think. During and after highschool, I was a very under-confident girl. But after my freshman year of college and first summer selling books, I developed an inner confidence that radiated outward. It’s amazing how much I have grown the past 4 years, I’m excited to keep growing! I love being a part of this company.
Thanks so much for your blog. I have had the same thing happen to me recently. I had a couple of my friends from college ask “how do you do it?” … Sound familiar?
You are the best, Mr. Schafer! Keep ‘em coming
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Aaron Schafer Reply:
December 17th, 2009 at 10:39 am
That is a great story Jenny. I know that my summers had a massive impact on me as well. Gaining that confidence and learning to love life regardless of your current circumstances are awesome characteristics to develop. It is unfortunate that a vast majority of our society run from the challenges in their lives that might help them actually develop these things!
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What it means to be truly happy and excited is to truly enjoy living; that’s powerful! Daily I have to remind myself that in the grand scheme of things being upset about a situation on gets me where? While in reality none of it really matters because the situation occurred and you should respond not react. To react is an quick thoughtless action that typically stems from anger because their is really not a great sense of clarity about what is the proper way to handle the situation. Responding means that you are in control because you have thought through your actions; The point I’m making is that the reason I am happy is because I think through what makes me unhappy and I respond by being thankful for my five senses that work properly, by finding someone I care about and hanging out with them, or remembering that inorder to help others you have to “be the change you want to see in others.”
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Great post Aaron! I always find that anything we look back on, even the really hard times (maybe like selling books), we usually find joy in our memories. Yet while living through them we may not have been so joyful. Even the basic days of walking through campus in the fall. We look back at our days in college and think what a joy it was and remember those beautiful days walking, but most of the time during those walks we forget to find the joy in them at that moment. Its all about being present and asking yourself how your going to remember the moment your in, because you will usually look back on it with joy, but finding that joy in the moment is what’s most important.
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Aaron Schafer Reply:
December 17th, 2009 at 10:35 am
So true. It is funny that there are so often universally accepted truths like this, and yet we often forget to put the effort into actually implementing them. Enjoy the present Nate!
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I really appreciate this… Your ideas on the power of positive thinking have made me really think about my times on my campus. Next time i am strolling down my universities side walk i will remember all the great things about my times in college. As well how exciting it is to still be working with college students who get to experience the same things that i enjoy. This year is going to be GREAT!
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