Southwestern Sales Talk

Well, the season ended rather abruptly a couple weeks ago with a close and heartbreaking loss to the Ravens.  I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to be there live.  All the air seemed to leave LP Field as Kerry Collins, the quarterback of the Tennessee Titans, heaved his final pass to try and get a first down.  When it fell to the ground, there was a collective groan from the home team fans.  To the point, we were in total disbelief.

The players had varying reactions: some wept, some were angry, some sat stunned–all were disappointed.  Now the character of the team will be revealed.  Aside from trades, the draft, salary caps, etc., we will see how this cohesive team responds to big-time adversity.  As Coach Fisher said in the post-game interview, “Most of the players are in disbelief because we had goals all year that we planned to accomplish.  There was no question that we planned on winning it all.”

So, what do we do with adversity?  What happens when you blow a big sale?  when your potential recruit goes elsewhere?  when everything you’ve worked for goes awry? 

At the Southwestern Company, we’ve always taught students that it’s not important what happens to you, what is important is your response–your reaction.  I remember my third summer selling books which turned out to be a disaster: everything that could go wrong, went wrong.  My roommates quit, my sales locality (seemed to) suck, I was steadily decreasing in sales production, nothing was clicking.  My team was large…largely unproductive that is to say.  I had a mild car wreck to top things off.

Needless to say, when that summer ended, I was ready to throw in the towel.  (“Thanks, Southwestern!  I learned a lot, I grew a lot…now I’m outta here.”)  I was rationalizing and responding to my defeat in a negative way.  I had no intention of returning the following year for another dose of failure.  Thankfully, I had senior managers and mentors who were willing to listen to my frustrations and offer hope that things could be different next year.  After much processing, I decided to return. 

The good news is the next year was great!  I rebounded in sales, recruiting, and in my team production.  A happy ending to the dismal previous performance.  The problem was not the program–the problem was how I performed at it. 

So back to sports.  We’ll see how the Titans players respond to this major setback.  Can they rebound and learn from their experience?  Will they be willing to pay the price again to get as far as they did this year?  Or will they disintegrate as a team and become mediocre?  I hope not.  We’ll see how their collective character responds to adversity.

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