Southwestern Sales Talk
I’m sure you’ve experienced frustrating seasons during your sales experience–you know: a rut, a plateau, a slump, a funk, an extended period of boredom…. You weren’t hitting your goals or your potential.
During the summer, Chris Adams (one of our Sales Directors at Southwestern) called me and asked for some ideas-specifically, help in re-motivating or redirecting his top producers who were in the sales doldrums (look it up). They were tapped-out technically: they’d listened to all the advanced sales CDs; they’d studied their sales talks and were knowledgeable about their prospects and products. But in short, they were stale.
When he approached me asking for new thoughts and insights, I naturally had none.
I was however, in the process of reading The Artist Within, a book on creativity through art by a former 
Southwestern great, Whitney Ferre. She rightly points out that we seldom use our right-brain–that part of our mind which is creative, artistic and spontaneous! She observed:
“When your thoughts are passing through your left brain only, your perspective is limited. When those same thoughts enter your right brain, your perspective is changed.”
So, how did we help those top producers snap out of their collective sales miasma? (Sorry for the vocab lesson.)
Crayons! And Scribble Pads!
We sent a FedEx package with these art supplies to the field. They were instructed to call me and we talked about using their right brains more–I told them to scribble, to draw shapes, patterns, doodles–anything! The point was to switch off their left brain, logical side and turn on their creative juices by using their right brain.
Of course, most of the feedback during the phone conversations initially came from their left brain–their logic center: “Why am I doing this?” “What do I draw?” “I can’t draw!” Judgement. Critique. Their left brains were doing a good job evaluating the task. I said, “Don’t worry, just pick colors, and scribble–do what you want for 5 minutes and don’t think.”
We had a great time on our calls. Most of the students actually had fun. They were doing something different! They were creating, not thinking. My post-call assignment: all salespeople were to draw at least 5 minutes a night after work.
The result: improved sales, improved attitudes nearly across the board. Some of the students had their organizations draw at weekend meetings. Some sent their artwork in to the office with their sales reports just for fun.
If you’re stuck, pick up a copy of The Artist Within. Go to http://www.creativelyfit.com/. Do the creativity workouts. Some of us have overused our left-brains. We are fried and our creativity needs to be re-ignited. As Ferre states:
“To strengthen that right brain ‘muscle,’ to give it a voice, we can create a new awareness of the art that is our life and we can use simple, creative exercises to connect to our artist within.”
Go draw something.
This is a great exercise in using your right brain. Sales is often very logical and predictable. You go through the approach and intro, find a need, cover objections, etc… By offsetting your logic with a creative outlet, you give your left brain a break. Great post!
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
September 18th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Trey: when you’ve been in your sales career for awhile, it’s easy to get stale. Exploring your “artist within” helps to break up the mental logjams….
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Whitney Ferre' Reply:
September 20th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Lee, Thanks so much for this blog. I am so glad the Creativity Workouts helped students this summer. I am going to speak to Lester Crafton’s group in Asheville this Friday! Whether sales goals, recruiting goals, or life goals, right brain thinking is the key to achieving extraordinary results! Thanks for buying my book, everyone! Creatively yours, Whitney
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:08 am
Wow–a real live comment from the author! Your material is refreshingly refreshing (but not redundant). Thanks for helping our salespeople be creative!
Great perspective! Not something people would think to do but it is an easy, fun way to improve productivity.
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It doesn’t take much to give your left brain a break. This is something everyone should apply in all aspects of their lives. Thanks Whitney and Lee!
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
September 28th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Most of us–except artists and composers–are fixated in our left brains…it’s good to get a right brain workout from time to time.
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Great idea Lee. I have a copy of that book that I haven’t touched since the week after GRS. I’m definitely going to look into it for some ideas.
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
The Artist Within is really different–short, easy, digestible bites of creativity starters. It is well done and we should all visit it again, Jonathan!
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I really like the book. I didn’t draw until I read the book. Then I realized it was a release of stress. I even drew sth for my friends to appreciate their support. It’s a great practice for the right brain. ^_^
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Absolutely, Clover. When I’m writing a talk or planning a meeting agenda, I switch on some classical music and get out my crayons (not kidding).
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does any one know where to find the wonder world book cassettes sold in 1987
these are for children I have the books and only one cassette which narriates a book. four total
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
October 12th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Sherry: sadly there are no more audio cassettes available in stock from 20+ years ago. You may have to search for these on eBay….
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I love it. We all too often try to logic our way through everything and forget to get creative. It is amazing how quickly people come up with solutions to problems or have a break through in a decision making process just by stepping outside the rigid confines of their preconceived logic. Thanks for the ideas Lee!
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Many of our OLs are looking to right-brain thinking to get creative, to provide a breakthrough for their salesforce. Food for thought.
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