When You Are In, Get Out!

Golf is a challenging game. So challenging that it can, for many, hardly be considered a game. Darrell Royal, the legendary coach of the Texas Longhorn Football team once said something to the effect that, squaring the golf club face to the ball at the point of impact, while executing a golf swing is one of the most difficult athletic skills to master. There are not many golfers that would disagree!

One of the unwritten tips to enjoying golf is that when you are in trouble the immediate and only objective must be to get out of trouble. Golf courses are designed to make the game challenging and that is why there are so many trouble spots on the course. These troubles consist of; sand, trees, bushes, water, hills and on some courses, railroad ties! These troubles are easy to get into and can be very tough to get out of. But you simply must get out. The simple solution is often the best solution. 

So when you hit a bad shot and find yourself in trouble, get out of trouble. Many amateur golfers stand over a golf ball that is deep in trouble and imagine that they can hit a shot that the professionals would never attempt. They select the wrong club, take a stand and swing away. The result is predictable and they find themselves in more trouble than they there were in prior to the risky shot. 

When you are in trouble, your only immediate focus should be to simply and quickly get out of trouble. Learning to get out of trouble can be a tough lesson to learn and master. Mistakes in business and life happen and it is far less important why it happened and who is at fault than it is to get things headed back in the right direction. Once you have handled the initial issue that caused the trouble,  you can move on to causes and find out who and why. But discovering who and why is not nearly as important as quickly defusing the situation. Even if you have to take ownership of trouble you did not create, the aggrieved will value your efforts to make their life better by confronting and when appropriate, handling the issue yourself. 

So when you are in, get out!

I Know A Guy

Guy is a generic label that applies to male and female here in the south. This story is about a male guy but could have easily been about a female.

I know a guy who has served in every professional role from rookie sales person to president. He was willing to do it wrong until he got it right.

He has always been close to sales and revenue generation, independent of the duties associated with the various positions held. He won and lost his edge and won it back again.

His beginning professional sales path was filled with hurdles, not the least of which was absolutely no experience and almost no training, nor did he have the coveted college diploma. This guy thought that selling was all about talking. In the beginning of his sales career, he was a poor professional listener.

He was an outsider with nothing but a "must-do" attitude. A "must-do" attitude is different from a "can-do" or "will-do" attitude. A "must-do" attitude is more closely linked to survival than any other mindset.

In 1518 AD during the Spanish conquest of Mexico, a guy named Hernan Cortes, who was a Spanish commander ordered his men to scuttled their ships, after landing on the Mexican shore, so they would have to conquer or perish. This is the prime example of a "must-do" attitude where the stakes are higher than you, or this guy I know, face in their professional lives. Cortez' "must-do" attitude was do or die.

Many learned and judgmental folks would have taken the position that without all of the education, experience or impressive resume, this guy was doomed to fail or at best be a tolerated under performer. Success was significant because this guy learned that he was only as good as the people he surrounded himself with. He chose wisely with whom he would associate.

The results, trusted clients and loyal employees show that without anything much more than a "must-do" attitude, this guy has enjoyed the fruits of dedicated effort. He is a really good professional listener now.

You may know a guy just like this guy I know, or you may be that guy. Listen to the guy inside and don't put too much faith, if any at all, in the guys outside until they prove worthy.

Thankful For What I Cannot Touch

Fittingly, this piece may have been published last week. The timing is intentional as thanksgiving is a daily opportunity.

The sense of touch is one of the most fantastic senses of all.

The touch of a loving hand.

The touch of the green grass under our bare feet on a beautiful spring day.

The touch of cool rain.

The touch of clean bed sheets.

These are some of the wonderful things we can touch and enjoy the experience and for these I am thankful.

However some of the most important things in my life, I cannot touch and they are the very things I am most thankful for.

I cannot touch love, but I can feel it. For love that I can feel, I am thankful.

I cannot touch friendship, but I can feel it. For friendship I can feel, I am thankful.

I cannot touch compassion, caring or concern but I can thankfully feel them.

I cannot touch the contentment of a full stomach, but I can feel it. For an abundant harvest, I am thankful.

I cannot touch well being, but I can feel it. For the blessing of health, I am thankful.

I cannot touch freedom, but I can feel it. I cannot touch the gratitude I have for the men and women that served and are serving in the U.S. military, but I hope they can feel how thankful I am for their commitment. Nor can I touch the security I feel because so many brave individuals have decided to pursue a professional career as a law enforcement officer, emergency medical technician or as firemen. For a secure feeling, I am thankful.

I cannot touch God, but I can feel His Spirit in me. For the Holy Ghost I am grateful and one day I know my God will call me home to touch His loving face. 

For the Blessed Hope, I am thankful.

Fried Chicken and Vacuum Cleaners

Consider Harland Sanders and James Dyson.

These visionary and creative individuals enjoyed monstrous success in industries already filled with monstrous successes. If you had asked the public, prior to these individuals introducing their new ideas to their respective and established markets, if the world needed more fried chicken or another vacuum cleaner the majority would have likely said, absolutely not.

Although he probably never said it, Charles H. Duell, the Commissioner of the U.S. Patent office in 1889 is accused of saying; "that everything that can be invented, has been invented." However unlikely it is that this is an accurate statement, it accurately represents the attitude of too many people. These are the people that see no reason to improve or reinvent anything. If it ain't broke..... Why not consider breaking it, just a bit!

Colonel Harland Sanders and James Dyson saw their industries and their opportunities differently. Where others saw the present as adequate, these visionaries saw things that were not, as if they were.

Colonel Sanders knew he had a great idea in his unique blend of spices used to enhance the flavor of fried chicken. He called on over a thousand restaurants before someone said they would try his idea.
(He was in his mid 60's when he started!)

James Dyson was already an accomplished inventor when one day he saw a giant cyclone mechanical device that was used to remove sawdust from a lumber yard processing facility and wondered if the same principles could be used in a vacuum cleaner. Five years and 5,127 prototypes later, he had an incredible machine that had no bags and did not lose suction.

The original Kentucky Fried Chicken has been a massive success and if you have every used a Tyson vacuum cleaner, you know why the company is so very successful.

Does your industry need a new innovative idea? Don't just accept things the way they are, just because they are that way. You can't afford to wait on someone else. Many very innovative and monstrous ideas originated from people just like you and are basically minor improvements to an already existing product or service. Consider fried chicken and vacuum cleaners, think differently and take a bite out of the status quo.

Tactics

The United States Army has learned, by virtue of countless experiences, how to tactically attack the enemy. Many of these battle tested tactics, have not changed significantly over many, many years. They remain unchanged for one very simple reason. They work.

The technology has really changed. Weapons that used to be somewhat accurate are now more technically advanced and these technological advances have made these soldiers and the weapons they use far more effective.

Soldiers in the Army are highly trained on how to use the established and successful tactics and how to accurately use the sophisticated weaponry. The mix of established tactics and modern day weaponry is incredibly effective.

And so it should be in sales. There are established sales tactics that must be adhered to in order to achieve the desired results. Simply because there are a million "shiny new digital toys" in your industry does not give you permission to abandon selling tactics that are battle tested.

New technology can be powerfully seductive and has lead many organizations down the yellow brick road only to find that the bricks are crumbling beneath their hurried feet. They replaced common sense methods with uncommon abandonment of logical and methodical processes and there is always a price to pay. Sales fundamental tactics are labeled as such because they (dare I say it) are tactically fundamental to your success.

Learning the new technology, products and services will empower you to help your clients, when it makes sense for the client. Doing so at the expense of successful tactics and proven products, will likely delay and absolutely subvert the process.

Don't Get Me Started!

"Don't you get me started..."

There is a natural and regrettable inclination to avoid conflict at almost any costs. Even though, avoiding, so as not to get someone started, demonstrates your unwilliness to uncover that which must be brought to light.

You must peel back the layer of the onion to get to the real issues and that will likely require you to boldly address these hidden issues head-on. When you peel back the layers of the onion, figurative tears may start to flow. In other words, you are going to expose your vulnerable side and your client's or prospects vulnerable side, inviting a possible compromising situation. So be it.

Until you get to a position of confidence where you are committed to rooting out the possible damaging issues, you are really not willing to become the trusted advisor you must strive to be and you will some day need to be.

People, as a general rule,  do want to get better, otherwise the selling of educational and self-help books would plummet. You can play an important role in helping others grow by making a commitment to guiding them down the discovery path. The discovery path is paved with questions listening, empathy and compassion.

When you are truly devoted to helping you must be devoted to carefully and gingerly, at times, continue pushing on the hot buttons in order to help others understand your deep desire to understand. Let them know that you really want to know that which you need to know. You can accomplish that worthy goal by showing a sincere commitment to their position and goals.

Getting to yes may involve getting someone started. So be it.

Who The Heck Are They?

Back in the day when I was making lots of face-to-face calls selling newspaper advertising, I had a very robust list of regular customers that were visited weekly.

These regular customers represented a significant portion of my time consumption and almost all of my business. Admittedly there was very little time devoted to scientifically cultivating new business from this group of customers and almost no time devoted to winning new customers. But that is a subject for another day. 

Since I called on these customers weekly, I saw the familiar faces of the employees that worked at these businesses but were not my contact, so I paid scant attention to them and made almost no effort to foster relationships. That oversight in hindsight was a huge tactical error.

One Monday morning as I was making my regular calls I walked into one of my BIG customers and, as was my flawed-practice, walked right past the assistant manager ( I knew they were the assistant manager because that is what was on their name tag) to the office to meet with the manager.

My, how things had changed over the weekend. The manager had been promoted to a higher position at another location and the afore mentioned assistant manager was now the manager and local decision maker. They had a big portion of my sales goal and my fate in their hands and I knew very little about them!

That was the day I committed to treating everyone that worked for my customers like someone who should be treated with respect and make a sincere effort to get to know them, as time permitted. It wasn't the fact that they might someday hold my selling-success-fate in their hands, it was a realization that everyone is important and should be treated as such.

Because I was in their business so frequently, I was given the opportunity to get to know these individuals and blew the opportunity, up until that shocking point that the assistant manager became the manager.

Take the time to get to know the other people in the room. You just might find some new friends and you will, at the very least, know their names and be in a position where they can get to know you.