Kenny is engaging, warm, funny, self-deprecating and persistent.  He hi-fives his prospect (physical involvement), deflects questions about the price (the inquiry came during the “demo”), and closes repeatedly.  On the less admirable side, Kenny makes appeals to buying out of sympathy (a little) and not solely out of service. Yet on the positive side, he wears an ID badge!  Well done.  His entire approach/demo is performed (I chose that word carefully) at the door—quite the door demo!  Kenny does reference neighbors, but doesn’t use any names. 

Kenny says he is working to become a TV comedian, and his door to door selling is merely a “stepping stone” to greater fame and fortune.  What are your thoughts on his technique?  Would you consider him effective or off-putting?  Watch this 7:00 minute clip, and you decide whether this guy will make it big.  (Why didn’t anyone approach him for Southwestern?)

Here’s a principle of human nature that can be useful in these moments.  NLP shows us that questions are the answer.  When our brain hears a question, no matter how unthinkable, it automatically imagines an answer.  Try it for yourself — pick something you don’t think you can do, or do well.  Then, ask yourself this question: “What would it be like if I could do _________ really well?”  Example: “What would it be like if I could sell really well?”  Or “What would it be like if I were really bold when it came to building a team?”

Your brain automatically imagines what it would be like — it can’t help it.  It’s automatic.  And it moves your mind from the frozen position of “impossible” to one of, “what would it be like if…?” and that’s a much more resourceful state to be in.  Belief is a funny thing.  Our brain always looks for evidence to support our thoughts.  We must be careful what we think about our sales ability or our ability to build a Southwestern team.  When we make statements to ourselves, like “I could never sell like _________” (insert name of top producer), we tend to believe it.  To ask, “What would it be like if I could sell like ______?”  At once our brain shifts from “stuckness” to “unstuckness.”   We imagine answers rather than limits.

After you begin to imagine what it would be like if you did have that skill or ability, then it might be useful to ask, “And how would I do that?”  Hmmm.   More potential answers and useful thoughts!  You might decide to phone up that top producer and ask them how they do it.  You might ask to follow them on the field for a day and model their behavior and/or attitude.  You might ask them what they think about all day long and compare it to what you normally ponder.  Once you get unstuck with the “what would it be like if I…” question, you can switch to “how” questions.

You can use this rut-breaking question in all areas of life.  What would it be like if you could really be focused when you study?  What would it be like if you could play Call of Duty 3 really well?  How about the realm of dating: what would it be like if you were really confident about asking cool people out?  Think about it.  What works for you?  Send me a comment!  Southwestern is not the only context where this mental agility applies.

“He conquers who endures.”  –Persius 

“The odds are with us if we keep on trying.”  –DeGreen 

“It helps to consider ourselves on a very long journey: the main thing is to keep to the faith, to endure, to help each other when we stumble or tire, to weep and press on.”  –Mary Caroline Richards 

“No, there is no failure for the man who realizes his power; who never knows when he is beaten; there is no failure for the determined endeavor; the unconquerable will.  There is no failure for the man who gets up every time he falls, who rebounds like a rubber ball, who persists when every one else gives up, who pusher on when everyone else turns back.”  –Orison Swett Marden 

“Don’t quit.”  –Mort Utley 

“I get knocked down, but I get up again…!”   –Chumbawamba 

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”  –Confucius 

“You become a champion by fighting one more round.  When things are tough, you fight one more round.”  –James Corbett 

“I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith!”  –St. Paul 

“Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success.  They quit on the one yard line.  They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown.”  –Ross Perot

“But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak.  And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!  (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)”  –Dr. Suess 

There is value in persistence.  What thoughts or quotes motivate you to continue to work when you don’t feel like it?  Southwestern alumni, current Southwestern students: feel free to comment!

So it is with selling.  Your encounters, your closing victories, your frustrations, your close misses—all are subject to your own internal voice.  The voice which is always evaluating, judging, and commenting as you go through your day.  My first summer with Southwestern, I constantly found myself at the mercy of my own thoughts, so I eventually figured out that I could divide my thoughts into two categories:

Useful thoughts and Useless thoughts. 

I discovered my natural negativity.   Left to myself, my internal dialogue as a rookie with Southwestern was not uplifting:

“Do I like this?”  No.

“Am I good at selling?”  Not really.

“Do people out here like me?”  Apparently not.   Or better yet:

“I suck at selling.  This is not fun.  People out here are idiots….”

And so it went.  Consciously, I had to  replace useless thoughts and negative internal conversations with more helpful stuff, like:

“I can, I will, and I’m going to do well with Southwestern.”

“Something about today will help me 5 years from now.”

“Progress, not perfection.”

“This situation will make a great story someday…”.

“I will laugh about this one day, so why not laugh now?”

I had to say positive affirmations out loud or my mind would gravitate to the dark side.  I found by saying positive phrases aloud, my mind would paint a useful picture.  I would visualize what I wanted to happen rather than wallowing in negative images and thoughts.

Southwestern strategy for winning in sales: Entertain only those thoughts which build you up; trash the rest.

What thoughts help you feel confident?  What thoughts drain you?  You must control that 6″ terrain between your ears!  If this is your first summer with Southwestern, why not begin to monitor your thoughts?  Pretend to hook up a digital recorder to your brain, and begin to notice your recurring thoughts.  Are they useful or useless?  Do they build your confidence, or do your thoughts tear you down?  I welcome your comments—if you’re selling with Southwestern, share your best, most helpful thoughts/affirmations.

One of the most common causes of average summers in the Southwestern Internship program is an average belief level. If someone views themselves as a 3.0 student who gives 3.0 effort in college, it is highly unlikely they will graduate with a GPA above a 3.0. Our own limiting view of ourselves allowed us to work less, rationalize less than our best, and settle for the results we had predetermined as our “potential”. The same happens in sales.

Going into my second summer with Southwestern I wanted to hit some pretty high goals. I came off a summer where I had sold about 2,600 units and made $13,000. In a second summer I really wanted to sell 6,000 units. (This goal would have been about 7,000 with the current unit values that have been raised on products since my second summer.) This goal scared the heck out me. In fact in the org I was in the previous summer none of the student managers had sold that many books. Why should I be able to?

This was the point in the story where I allowed the math major side of me to take over. This part may bore you, but I promise it is worth reading. There are three components that go into how many units you will sell this summer. Your total presentations for the summer, your closing %, and your average package size. I know that this is nothing new to most of you. What really helped me turn the corner on my own belief level was figuring out what I felt confident I could accomplish in each of these three areas.

Looking back at my previous summer I saw at I closed 30% of my presentations in summer 1.  I had an average package of around 13. My average presentations were about 10 a day. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could have my package size raise to at least 15 (really low for a student manager) and I was confident I would not get worse at selling and hopefully would get slightly better up to 33%. So if one in three families bought 15 units, every one of my presentations was worth 5 units. If I needed to sell 500 units a week to hit 6,000, I just needed to figure out how to get 16 presentations a day and 20 on Saturday to make 100 for the week.

From that point forward I dove all the way in on my approach. I practiced with managers on campus. I trained with my team. I video taped my approach to see what I was actually doing. I practiced with my DSM. I knew that 100 presentations a week was all I needed to focus on.The rest of the semester I didn’t care at all about 6,000. All I cared about was 100, 15, and 33%. I was confident I could do these three and I knew what they resulted in. I posted these numbers in my room, they were on the background of my computer, and I doodled them in class. By the time the summer rolled around these numbers were hard wired. When I left each house in the summer I said to myself, “Cool, that will be 5 units at the end of my summer.”. It made me focus on nothing but the controllables and kept me from getting too high or too low.

I ended up only have 11 1/2 weeks my second summer and I delivered 5,752 units. 2 units off from being EXACTLY 500 a week. I also sold an average of 5.02 units per presentation. I don’t think this was purely by chance.

So forget about all of your preconceived notions in regards to “what you are capable of” in terms of units. Instead sit down with your manager and figure out what you are capable of in regards to the three key components. Get their advice on how to increase in the area you most need to increase in. Once you come up with numbers you are confident in and a game plan to improve pre-summer, dive in!

The end result will be much better than you ever thought possible.

As a biological engineering major, my possible summer internships options were pretty slim.  Every company I contacted wanted me to have some experience in the field before they would even consider interviewing me.  Sadly my four years of lifeguarding wasn’t impressive to them, so I faced a lot of rejection whenever I applied.  “How am I supposed to have experience as a freshman?” I would often ask my roommates.  They too had impressive resumes built on years of dedicated work in the food service industry, so they offered little help.    My assigned college counselor offered me more and more engineering firms to contact, and I applied to all of them only to hear the same response time after time.  “Try again when you are a junior or senior” became a popular expression around my dorm room. 

Then I made one of the best decisions a college freshman can make.   I applied for internships outside of my major and a whole new world of opportunity opened up!  There are lots of opportunities to students willing to try something new and different.  I looked at sales internships, investment companies, entrepreneurship opportunities, and many others.  I ended up getting a challenging job where I would run my own business for the summer.  After completing the summer, I found that my skills I had gained during the summer were priceless.  I now had engineering firms seeking me out and contacting me for jobs!  They saw my engineering knowledge combined with the sales skills I had learned from my internship, to be highly sought after and worthy of their time.

So to all underclassmen who have a lack of experience, but are ambitious enough to search for an internship look outside of your major this summer.  There are great jobs, even careers that have been started by students who took a chance and tried something different.  But beyond all else, you only get four summers in college (or five if you are on the hard partying course plan) please make the most of them.  It is never too early to start get ahead in life.

So here’s a question for salespeople: what music motivates you?  Do you get fired up before your sales day with some old time Rock & Roll?  or with some heavy-duty rap?  Or do you like to get centered, focused and calmed down with a dose of Brahms (classical), or even some Dave Brubeck (jazz)?

I’m conducting the most un-scientific study ever. The poll is in the margin to your left.   Vote for the music genre that inspires you to be your best!  That puts you in the mood to sell.  Also, feel free to comment if you want to get really specific with a group or performer.  (Eg. “James Blunt really gets me jacked up!”)  Let’s see how we use music to get into a peak selling state.

I think it might be physically impossible to have a bad day after a morning like that.

While not always a common practice, many successful people engage in similar affirmation rituals every single day. 

What exactly are affirmations, you ask?  Well, we all affirm ourselves constantly.  For better, or for worse.  Our affirmations are the stream of dialogue that flows through our brains each and every day.  They are the thoughts we have about ourselves, our abilities, our expectations, and others.  They are also in the words we speak and the actions we take on a daily basis.  This flow of information is our output into the world.  It affirms that our belief systems (the way we view the world, ourselves, and other people) … are indeed true.   These affirmations are, in effect, programming our brains.

So it is our decision whether our affirmations are positive – or negative.  They can tell us how happy and at-ease we are (or, how much we like our pajamas).  Alternatively, they can tell us that people are cruel and life is hard and we were intended to live a life of suffering.

And just like when you program a computer – what you put into it, is what you get out of it.  Garbage in; garbage out, as they say.  Same goes for how we communicate with ourselves.  We actually TELL ourselves and those around us what we want out of life. How we want to feel, what we want to experience, who we want to surround ourselves with, etc.  It’s amazing how much of our reality is actually up to us.

And yes, it may seem (or look) silly to a bystander,  but I’d be willing to bet that if we all started our days a little more like Jessica – in some capacity or other - we’d see our lives (and our summer’s) get a whole lot more fruitful. 

The grass is green.  Birds are chirping.  The weather is warming up (no, I’m not talking about climate change) and I can leave the windows open at night.  It’s time again for Southwestern Company’s annual Sales School!  This year we’re slated to have nearly 2,800 students in for sales training from all over the world.

So here’s a question for Southwestern Company students and alumni: at this time of the year how do/did you feel going into a summer of selling?  Everyone I know has a different emotional reaction to the notion of selling books.

What is the best emotional state to be in prior to a sales challenge? 

Think back to a time you competed, or remember a time you had to perform.  Got it in mind?  When you performed well, you probably felt a mixture of positive anticipation and light anxiety.  When did this go away?  Most athletes will tell you, “when the gun went off” or “when the competition began”.   Most performers say their anxiety left when the show began.

If you are all jazzed and excited, but haven’t “counted the cost” and thought through the challenge properly, you’re overconfident.  If on the other hand, you throw up every time you ponder your upcoming event, you’re taking it a bit seriously.  Worry is rarely a productive state to be in.  There is a happy medium. 

Before a good summer, I visualized what I wanted to happen.  I reviewed my goals.  I got excited about the long range outcome of what the summer sacrifice would entail.  I pictured my team in checkout, the awards banquet, where I would be in the superstar book…. 

I also remembered (briefly) how difficult a Southwestern summer was, how hot it got, how heavy the bag was, how taking a team to the field would pose a multitude of  frustrations, how tired I felt….  I’d say I was about 85% excited about the summer challenge and about 15% anxious.  It seemed to be a mix that worked for me.  I felt ready.

What’s your proper mix?  How do you get emotionally prepared for a sales challenge?  Think!  Is it a vague sense of impending doom or is it an experience you’re leaning into?  How can you get excited and prepared to perform?!  Share your thoughts and help others.

            In reality we all have points in our lives when we are so on that our “weaknesses” are barely noticeable or are completely non-existent.  Our strengths are all that we see.  We are in the zone.  And then there are some points in our lives where we are just off.  At these times we have no discernable strengths and our weaknesses seem overpowering!  So trying to think through your weaknesses and fix them, or attempting to isolate your strengths and maximize them, can often times be a very frustrating endeavor.  When we are in the zone we feel like we have arrived!  “I did it!  I conquered my weaknesses!”  Then we later get in a funk and the logical conclusion we come to is, “I have accomplished nothing.  I really thought I was getting better this time!”  Instead of isolating what our strengths and weaknesses are, a far more productive exercise is to spend some time answering the following questions:

1)      What am I like when I am on?

2)      What am I like when I am off?

3)      What are my habits when I am on?

4)      What are my habits when I am off?

The first thing that happens after really spending time diving into this exercise is that you will begin to notice when you start to be “off” and will no longer continue to think thoughts that go something like, “There I go again.  I always do that!”  The biggest obstacle most people face in living the life they want to live is taking ownership of their “weaknesses”.  People think that the things they dislike about themselves are somehow hardwired into their DNA.  That isn’t you!  That is you when you are off.  This is empowering because it allows you to take a step back and think through questions 3 and 4.  What have I been doing recently?  What have I not been doing?  For me personally, if I work out first thing in the morning and read a motivational book before breakfast, it is going to be a great day!  If my thoughts are primarily focused on others or focused on long term goals then I am loving life.  I absolutely love my job if I am spending most of my time in front of people, truly listening, and learning new things from every person I meet.  If I am spending a ton of mental energy focused on trivial problems or manifesting negative situations in my mind that “may” unfold; I am irritable, easily frustrated, and generally don’t enjoy life.  This is true in both my career and family life.  This knowledge is power.

      So catch yourself.  Notice when you are starting to slip.  However, it takes more than simply catching yourself in a destructive pattern.  You have to take immediate action!  Get back to the habits that lead to the best version of you.  Go do the things that give you confidence and lead to you loving life.  This seems obvious, and yet the truth about human existence is that it takes much less effort to be neutral or negative than it takes to be positive and optimistic.  But it is worth it.  Life is more fun and more rewarding.  It is all about your habits. 

The reality is that you are always in habit patterns whether good or bad.  If you wake up every morning and decide whether or not to exercise, it is tough!  You are in the habit of indecision.  If you just wake up and do it every single morning for 3 weeks, it will be hardwired into you.  You don’t even think about it.  It is like this in all of your habits.  This is not just about what you do with your mornings.  You are constantly forming habits at work, with your family, with your friends, and with your own thoughts.  So form good ones!  If you struggle in forming these habits in any area, get an accountability partner.  Find some way to hold yourself accountable.  Do whatever it takes.  The key is, DO IT!  Stop procrastinating. Stop saying that you will form good habits next week.  Don’t wait until it becomes convenient.  There is nothing more important than you being the best version of yourself.  It impacts everything.  So what could me more important than forming the habits that lead to this?  Anything that is worth doing in life is bound to be challenging.  However, if you will stop banging your head against the wall trying to determine why you can never get rid of personality trait x, and instead really hone in on the habits that make you great, the battle you will be fighting will at least lead more directly to living life the way you want to live it!