Learning

Will you do it wrong until you get it right? What we have to learn we learn by doing. What we have to learn to do well we learn by doing over and over again. What we have to learn to be great at, we learn by not quitting and doing it over and over and over until we get it right and we own it. Doing anything without working knowledge can be disconcerting and have a tendency to discourage you from continuing. All of the training in the world cannot compare to the actual doing, because in the doing we get the experience and the experience teaches us how to do better. Practice and coaching are both very important and will save you from committing some fundamental mistakes but they cannot take the place of actual doing.

Consider the paratrooper. Paratroopers are trained for hours upon hours about what to do and when to do it before they make their first jump. But nothing teaches them more about their commitment than standing at the door of an airplane 3,000 feet in the air and stepping out into nothingness. If they are unprepared the results are fairly predictable. But even if they are fully prepared, the act of jumping out is a belief in the plan and the execution.

You should absolutely take the steps you have planned and be ready to make necessary changes if what you are doing is not achieving the desired results. Don' t jump too quickly by making changes before the plan has the opportunity to succeed, but if after a while if you are not learning by doing, perhaps it is time to change. What you must learn you must learn by doing. Will you do it wrong until you get it right?

Planning & Execution

The planning is critical to the process and the process is critical to the execution and the execution is critical to the desired result! There is sometimes a tendency to think of planning as some abstract exercise, that is, until the execution begins to take effect. You must plan, but you should not devote so much time to planning that you become distracted and fail to execute. The plan must lead to a process and that is when we begin to learn the merits of our plan and how much we should modify it to accomplish our objectives. Planning is best done when you are not consumed with the daily requirements of your job. Take the time to make the time to establish a plan. Before planning I suggest that you gather as much information as possible and determine how to get the right people involved. Once you have established your objective you need to develop a plan of action and then you must execute. Circumstances beyond your control are a dynamic reality. Therefore your plan and execution steps are very likely to change. However the objective may not. You will simply change the paths you're taking to achieve your goals. There is very little in business that will take the place of planned-positive action. But, make sure you can tell the difference between action and activity. Hamsters are actively busy spinning the wheel but they are not getting anywhere.

What you have to say

There is a great line in one of Neil Simon's plays. One of the characters is discussing the merits of what another of the characters is saying. His line regarding the verbose tendency is: "He doesn't have much to say, it is just that you have to listen to so much to figure that out." One of my friends from early in my career was explaining the specifics of a screenplay when he told me that every line in a movie is designed to be a part of the overall story. Noting is left to chance, every word has a designed meaning as it relates to the intention of the writer.

We should all be more selective when we are talking to prospects or clients about our product or service. Make every statement count because time, especially time that they are really focusing, is precious and limited. Business is full of distractions and even though you may feel you have the undivided attention of the person you are talking to, it is very likely that they are processing other information based on the need to make things happen or solve a particular problem. People are busy and while you may feel that what you have to say is really important, they may not and their opinion is all that matters. You need to continually sharpen your conversation skills so that you are listening intently and then responding appropriately by saying as much as possible in the fewest possible words. The value of repetition cannot be ignored when you are attempting to make an mission-critical statement, but make sure to do so in a manner that is not condescending or insulting. Saying the same mission-critical things in a number of different ways is smart but can be distracting if you are not doing so at an appropriate time in a strategic manner.

Do not assume that people really care what you have to say unless it is relevant to helping them solve their problems or grow their business. Stay focused and on point!

Look at that

While preparing to get my daughter at the airport, my son and I decided to dress up as Nerds and shock her as she exited the airplane. The plan worked beautifully. She screamed at the top of her lungs when she saw us and would not walk with us to get her luggage. One of my sales associates just happened to be in the airport at the same time and saw me in all my Nerd attire. The look was so radically different than the professional look he associated me with, that he actually thought the Nerd he was looking at, was that one person in the world that looked so much like me, that it actually could be my double. He was stunned when I revealed myself as the Nerd standing before him at the airport luggage carousel. The moment was priceless and revealing.

People do notice when you are dressed professionally and they notice when you are not. How you look overall does make a difference. The clothes do not make the person, but the clothes and overall appearance do make a difference in how people perceive you. Projecting a professional image is critical to your success and it is very difficult to achieve if you do not look the part. That is precisely why movie directors have people on staff whose only job is to make sure the actors look the part. Dressing well along with a nicely groomed look does not need to be a financial burden, but it is vitally important to how your clients, prospects, superiors and co-workers will likely judge your level of commitment. The well dressed professional is a credit to their profession. When you look great, you feel great!

The Unique Opportunity

You are presented with a very unique opportunity each day you are at work. You have the opportunity to do something for somebody that they may not be able to do for themselves. Given that many of your customers and prospects are so busy running their business, it is logical to take the position that they really need don't have time to get the most out of what you have to offer. You should know all of the features and benefits of what you are selling so it is vitally important that you "think like a client" and determine how to get the most "bang for the buck." Become an unpaid advisor on their staff by helping them help themselves. Relationships are built on trust and helping your customers and clients maximize their investment in your product or service will go a long way in building a long-term relationship. Take a very proactive position in making sure you fully explain everything associated with your offering and ask questions as to how clearly your explanations are understood. Take nothing for granted. Make sure that everyone concerned knows the full potential of your offering and that you are fully committed to making the most of the unique opportunity of helping someone do something they may not be able to do by themselves!

Make The Calls

One of my very good friends, whom I got into an entry-level selling job, achieved such a high level of success that he went on to work for a national fishing magazine as the director of advertising sales. When asked at a corporate planning session what his sales plan was for the upcoming year he replied: "I am going to make the calls." Now you and I may think that at such a high-level a sales plan would be a great deal more detailed and intellectual than just making the calls. But when you consider the overall commitment to making the goals, making the calls is really all there is. All of the planning in the word will not get sales in the door, you must make the calls. Obviously an aggressive and reasonable target for sales activity makes perfect sense, but if you do not prepare in advance, establish objectives for every sales call and then make the sales calls, it will not matter. Once the activity targets have been established, you must meet the demands and measure your results to determine if you must make any modifications. There is no one who knows what will happen when you make a sales call, but everyone knows exactly what will happen if you do not. Since you want to make more sales, you must make more calls!

Fear Not

Far too often people do not achieve their objectives or more importantly, their potential because they are afraid. Fear is paralyzing. After accepting a terrific job with a large company I found myself moving from a small town to a huge metropolitan area where I would be heading a sales team that dealt with world-class clients. My fear was dealing, one-on-one, with the really smart people in the "tall glass buildings" and how they would treat me. After spending considerable time calling on these very sophisticated people I realized they were people, just like me. We had many things in common. They found my small-town experience refreshing and they helped me learn how to deal with people at every level. Soon I found myself calling on top management of Fortune 500 companies and handling the situation as if I had been doing it for years! My fear was unfounded. Meeting fear head-on takes guts. However what you will most often find it that you were afraid of something that never really existed. Fear is most often an obstacle that we build because we don't know. Fear is born out of the unknown. Do not be afraid, step forward and learn as you go. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much you can accomplish if you are not fearful.

The Blessing of Challenges

The great barrier coral reef is one on the most incredible places in the world. Located off of the coast of Australia the reef stretches for over 1,500 miles! The coral reef is longer than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing on earth visible from space. On one side of the reef the coral is a dull sandy color with a short life span. On the other side of the reef the coral is beautiful. The colors are amazing and the coral has a much longer life span. So what is the difference. On one side of the reef the waters are mostly calm and the temperature remains fairly constant. The coral is not challenged. On the other side, where the coral is challenged by constant tides, varying temperatures and raging waters the coral must fight for its life everyday and it thrives! We are going to be challenged when we get out and fight for our success. Challenges help to make sure we are doing what it takes to be successful. Thing change and we must be able to adapt, just like the coral does, if we want to be stronger, more savvy and more successful. You know people who are in jobs that go through the same routine everyday. They are infrequently challenged and therefore they don't get better at what they do. Because they don't have to. In sales you are going to be frequently challenged and how you react to that challenge will determine just how successful you are going to be. You are going to have to improve on a consistent basis and daily challenges, resulting from changing circumstances, will help to assure you are getting better, if you respond with a can-do attitude.

What Matters

One day while sitting in the Dallas Forth Worth Airport, I noticed a custodian pushing a cart full of trash. His job was to go along the airport and empty the trash cans and put new plastic liners in. No one noticed his activity, no one except me! Watching him do his job, very efficiently, the thought occurred to me that no one noticed perhaps because not many people would consider what he was doing as vitally important. Everyone was just too busy to fully appreciate the significant benefit his tasks were bring to the airport operation.

However, if the custodian were to let a week pass before he emptied the trash, he would get a lot of attention. The custodian would become one of the most important people in the operation and then, everyone would notice. The new found attention would not be because of what he had done, but because of what he had not done. Often in our daily tasks we are find ourselves doing things that aren't monumental in and of themselves. These are the tasks that are not noticed and rewarded if they are done, but get a lot of attention if they are not done. Many of these tasks may seem unimportant, but if left undone, incomplete or poorly executed , they can have the multiplying effect of disrupting the entire process. Make sure to do every task with a clear understanding that the results of your efforts, no matter how insignificant they may seem at the time, matter.

Honestly Folks

Building relationships requires all concerned to be trustworthy and forthright. This need for everyone to be totally honest runs throughout the entire team on both sides of the relationship. Honesty is easy and builds relationships faster that any other component. The individual that encourages the prospect or client to open up and share the realities is much better positioned than the person that simply skims the surface in order "sell stuff" as if a sale is a victory. A sale is not a victory. A victory is when a client accomplishes their objectives because you honestly helped. Selling is not about selling in the pure sense of the word. Selling is about helping people by putting their interest above anything else and you cannot put the client first if you do not have the truth as a requirement of doing business. The truth does not need any emotional support in order to make an impact. However when someone is not being totally truthful, they will often add the high emotional factor to their statements as if that will somehow make it more believable. Perhaps the client or prospect wants to try something that you know, and can prove, is not in their best interest. You will find yourself in the position of having to tell a client or prospect that your services or products are not a good fit under the circumstances. Don't get into a protracted discussion about how you may be able to make it work for the client or prospect when you know that the percentages are not favorable. Some clients and prospects operate from the premise that they have already made up their mind and you are wasting your time by sharing the facts. Don't argue, let them be and know that "The truth will have to be good enough."