Today Was a Great Day Because….

If you can’t complete the sentence without much thought, think about changing what you do for a living. Look, I know that we all have responsibilities, not the least of which is providing, at least for ourselves and in most cases for others as well. But I would argue that if that fact is the sole motivator for staying where you are, you are probably performing less well than you could and sooner or later that will dawn on your employer. If we don’t enjoy what we are doing, and don’t find meaning in what we are doing, we tend to perform just well enough to keep the position at the current rate of pay. That is to say the boss probably figures, “He isn’t the best but the return on his cost to me is acceptable, even if no big deal." That being the case, when someone else becomes available with more promise in the boss’ eyes than you, your job will be in jeopardy anyway.

My message is that you can do, and be, better than that; much better. Among the differences between outstanding performers and average performers, are their respective feelings about the meaningfulness of their work. A Harvard Medical School graduate with a specialty in thoracic surgery, performing two surgeries per day over fifteen years and getting wealthy doing it, is probably no better than average in his surgical skills if each day at the operating table he wishes instead that he was spending his time in medical research and leading the charge in ending the very diseases that are now making him rich. In order to be great at what we do, it’s important that we find meaning in, and love it as well.

As Malcolm Gladwell points out in his terrific book, Outliers, The Story of Success, “…it is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and five, it’s whether our work fulfills us.”

Without getting overly philosophical, and at the risk of stating the oft repeated and obvious, life's a short run. So much of it is spent at work. Wasting a moment of time, much less eight plus hours per day, five days a week, at what for you is meaningless work, squanders the gift, limits your contribution to others and your chance to be great.

Great Selling!

LOVE YOUR WORK AND WORK TIRELESSLY
Communicate Honestly and Fearlessly
Serve, Don't Sell
Collapse Time
Teamwork

Great Salesmen Don't Sell the USP, They Are the USP

Character is the key differentiator between the great majority of average sellers and the uncommon and remarkable seller. "Hotshots" are skilled openers and closers and are at the middle-upper right side of the bell shaped curve of sales proficiency. Grunts who never stop knocking on doors, picking up lunch tabs, and sending anniversary and birthday cards fall somewhere in the middle. Movie goers flitting from job to job relying on their dancin' shoes to keep a shuffle ahead of their next dismissal, are located bottom left.

Way at the right upper end are the one in ten, maybe twenty who really are the "goods."

These great sellers live to serve. They come to each client and prospect bearing gifts of self-abnegating work to solve problems and grasp opportunities for their "partners." They bring their creativity, knowledge, open mind, indefatigability and sincere concern for their constituent's well being on every call. When they ask, "how can I help you?" they mean just that. When they say, "I need a half hour of your time because I am sure that I can help you," they mean that too.

These remarkable sellers represent products and services of value (or they wouldn't be representing them) but they don't visit to sell their wares. They come to improve the business of those they visit. These sellers invest their time as if it was the capital set aside for their kids' educations. The intensity and energy they expend on behalf of their clients is selfless in nature, and meaningful in outcome. They are the ones the clients want, even need to deal with. They are the most valuable commodity the client spends their cash on.

They are their companys' unique selling proposition.

Great Selling!

Love Your Work and Work Tirelessly
Communicate Honestly and Fearlessly
SERVE, DON'T SELL
Collapse Time
Teamwork

Many Politicians Can Sell, Few Salesmen Can Politic

To be a great salesman, you need to have only ONE agenda: How can I help this client, and then that client and then the next? The only "which way is the wind blowing" agonizing you need to suffer is the competitive field, brand position and product value of your current and next customer. If you become really good at that suffering, the process will morph to pure joy and your clients' businesses will grow and you will become rich and famous. OK, maybe just rich.

I was reminded of the waste of time and potentially destructive results of politicking today by a very smart partner who pointed out that a recent "strategic" communication of mine ("politically" motivated) was likely a "misfire." He was right, but more importantly it surprised me that I needed to be reminded of who I am and what I do. And what I do not, is run for, or occupy, public office. I am not a politician and have never learned the art either academically or experiencially. The good news is to accomplish what I am charged with, has nothing to do with politics. And that's probably true for you as well.

So--don't buy the sales manager a strawberry donut with sprinkles on it unless you would if he were a school crossing guard and not your boss. Likewise, the potential customer. "Oh wow, a donut. Thanks so much. Here's a $50,000 order." Put all your energy and creativity to work solving as many people's problems as you can. Make as many lives better for their contact with you as you possibly can. That's the only agenda that will make you what I hope you want to be. Special.

Great Selling!

Love Your Work and Work Tirelessly
Communicate Honestly and Fearlessly
Serve, Don't Sell
Collapse Time
Teamwork

Honest and Fearless Communication...always

In 1990, 73 of 148 passengers died aboard an Avianca Columbian Airline Flight on an approach to John F. Kennedy Airport, in New York. They died, as documented by Malcolm Gladwell in his remarkable new book, "The Outliers," because of the culturally inherited reticence on the part of the co-Pilot to fearlessly and honestly communicate to his superior, the Pilot/Captain. According to Gladwell, a lower social or professional status in Columbian society calls for subservient carriage including what linguists call "mitigated communication." A practioner of mitigated communication, in effect offers sugar coated pronouncements, even in time of peril, to another of a higher status. It's as if the co-pilot might say within seconds of a potentially calamitous crash landing, "excuse me, sorry to disturb Captain, but if you've a mind to, you may want to consider pulling up, and starting our approach over." There's more to this particular story and it's a fascinating book, well worth pushing up near the top of your "to read" list, but suffice to repeat that many people died for lack of a fearless and honest communication from the first officer to the captain of that flight.

At the risk of appearing to trivialize this horrific event, most businesses, careers and sellers fail to maximize the opportunities before them for the same reason. Absolute honesty and the average seller are perfect strangers. The average sales executive is highly focused on closing the sale, every sale of everything he represents to anyone that can pay for it. Ergo, the necessity for the dictum, caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. And he is!

Because the number of average sellers by definition is multitudinous most buyers walk around "caveating" all the time. They are trained to smell polished, slick closers, and if the odor is strong enough, they are going to "pass" much more often than not.

Among the key attributes however, of the extraordinary seller, manager, COO and CEO is a core value of "the truth as I see it come H--- or high water". The uncommon and remarkable seller labors to connect his product or service to the suspected needs of well researched, targeted customers. In his early meeting(s) with the customer he seeks to affirm to himself, well before he attempts to make the case to the customer that his need-assumption was correct. When that is found to be the case he uses every artful technique he's developed to lower the buyer-seller barrier and to serve that new customer well. The cornerstone of the relationship becomes the trust, based upon his commitment and honesty, accorded to him by his new partner.

The crown jewel of the fearless and honest communicator is bestowed by customers, colleagues and employers, and in business, there's no more valuable a jewel.

Great Selling!

Love Your Work and Work Tirelessly
COMMUNICATE HONESTLY AND FEARLESSLY
Collapse Time
Serve, Don't Sell
Teamwork