Are You Willing To Pay The Price For Sales Excellence?

I don’t want to come across as philosophical, but in all that we do, there is a law of nature that comes into balance. You might call it a “cause and effect” principle. It is impossible to do something and not receive the appropriate and corresponding result. Selling is no different. When you do certain things you are bound to receive certain results. Every action and activity will return an appropriate result in harmony with that activity.

Let me put it another way. If a farmer plants corn, he will reap corn. If he plants wheat, he will reap wheat. The size of the harvest will be proportionate to the care in which he nurtures his field. Now, here are a couple of thoughts to seriously ponder relating to sales excellence: Question number one – What are you planting? Question number two - What are you doing to nurture what you have planted? I know very little about farming, probably just enough to know that it is an extremely difficult and challenging way to make a living. However, I know a lot about sales, enough to know that if you follow the same principles that relate to farming, sales can be a wonderful profession and provide an excellent standard of living.

To achieve excellence in sales you don’t need to be brilliant and gifted. You do however, need to understand what it takes to achieve excellence and you must be willing to put forth the required effort. Remember, sales excellence is bound by certain unchangeable principles that determine success or failure. Let me share with you a short article written by a personal friend of mine. You might know of him, Dr. Terrel H. Bell. Ted served as the U. S. Secretary of Education in the cabinet of President Ronald Reagan. Ted was first and foremost an educator and this article talks about a profound experience he witnessed during his early career as a teacher.

In our small high school, the students and faculty were well acquainted. Teaching and learning were individualized and personal. This young woman came to my attention when she was in the ninth grade. We gave her several IQ tests because her achievement in school far exceeded that of many classmates who scored much higher on a highly respected intelligence test. The highest she ever scored was 97, but her achievement exceeded two very bright and talented students who had scored above 130. She was an exemplary student who utilized every opportunity and every moment of the day.

Learning was not easy, especially when new and somewhat complex subject matter was being introduced, but she was very intense. She was never reluctant to ask questions nor to reveal what she did not know. She had a deep and abiding will to achieve, and exam questions missed were mastered and not missed in any subsequent test. What she lacked in brilliance she made up in effort and by steady, relentless pursuit of mastering her lessons.

This young woman graduated at the head of her class and was the valedictorian. She reached her goal to be the best because she had learned that it took her longer to learn. She knew that her steady, unrelenting effort would bring her to full mastery, if she were willing to pay the price.

I will always remember this remarkable student. She was an inspiration to the faculty and her classmates. Her example was contagious. Hers was living proof that the will to learn and the self-discipline to use time wisely and effectively will lead to the success that never comes to those who, regardless of talent, hold back their best effort. A positive attitude, full commitment, and the self-discipline to work hard can all compensate for endowed talent. You don't have to be bright to attain excellence. You just have to be ambitious.

The cause and effect principles that influence the results of your actions and the law of the harvest that the farmer lives by and the laws of learning as shared in this story told by Ted Bell, apply precisely to achieving sales excellence. Here is my summary of eight profound principles that when learned and applied will bring sales excellence:

1. All of your actions are part of a cause and effect principle. If you want to be excellent at selling then you must do those things that excellent sales people do.
2. Everyone is bound by the law of the harvest, which states, “You will reap that which you sow.” There are no exceptions.
3. The size of the harvest is in direct proportion to the care and nurturing of the field.
4. Excellence requires a relentless pursuit of knowledge and activity.
5. A positive attitude, full commitment, and the self-discipline to work hard can all compensate for endowed talent.
6. Understand what you don’t know and then work diligently to learn those things.
7. To achieve excellence you must have the desire to become excellent.
8. Personal ambition, not talent, is paramount to achieving sales excellence.

To Be Successful You Must Expect To Be Successful

The year was 1985 and I was a regional sales manager for BP Coal USA living in Lexington, Kentucky, the smallest bastion of coal capitalism in North America. The closest professional sports team to Lexington was the Cincinnati Reds, just up I-75 about and hour, where River Front Stadium was smartly nestled on the North bank of the Ohio River putting the stadium in Ohio, whereas the Cincinnati airport was on the South side of the Ohio River putting it in Kentucky. The Reds were my team and Pete Rose was my baseball hero. When the season began, Pete Rose was 78 hits behind the legendary Ty Cobb, and 1985 was going to be the year that Pete Rose would do the unbelievable, break Ty Cobb’s fifty-seven year record of 4,191 major league career hits. I had taken my family to the game between Cincinnati and the San Diego Padres on Tuesday evening, September 10th. We were hoping against hope to witness baseball history. It proved to be a long ride home with Pete going 0 hits for 4 at bats. To add a twist to our disappointment, Cincinnati also lost the game by one run.

The next day I was traveling on business and spent the night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In my absence, Pete Rose, playing his usual position at first base, during his first at bat, hit a 2 and 1 pitch off of right-hander Eric Show for a single to left-center field. As I listened on the radio, the crowd erupted with a standing ovation that lasted more than seven minutes. A crowd of 47,237 screaming and cheering fans witnessed history, and I had been a day too early to be part of the celebrating crowd. Pete Rose went 2 for 3 that night to convincingly put his name in the history books forever.

During Spring Training earlier that year, Pete was being interviewed after practice. One reporter blurted out, "Pete, you only need 78 hits to break the record. How many at-bats do you think you'll need to get the 78 hits?" Without hesitation, Pete just stared at the reporter and very matter-of-factly said, "78." The reporter yelled back, "Ah, come on Pete, you don't expect to get 78 hits in 78 at-bats do you?" Mr. Rose calmly shared his philosophy with the throngs of reporters who were anxiously awaiting his reply to this seemingly boastful claim. "Every time I step up to the plate, I expect to get a hit! If I don't expect to get a hit, I have no right to step in the batter's box in the first place!" "If I go up hoping to get a hit," he continued, "Then I probably don't have a prayer to get a hit. It is a positive expectation that has gotten me all of the hits in the first place."

Let me repeat again what Pete Rose said. “Every time I step up to the plate, I expect to get a hit! If I don't expect to get a hit, I have no right to step in the batter's box in the first place! If I go up hoping to get a hit, then I probably don't have a prayer to get a hit. It is a positive expectation that has gotten me all of the hits in the first place."

How many of us go through life hoping to do well. Hoping to be great sales people, hoping to be good parents, spouses, neighbors, citizens, etc. Pete Rose understood, as a baseball player, what most sales people never learn; and that is, you must expect to be successful to be successful. If you hope, you will never achieve success. You must believe and expect that you will reach your goals or you never will. You must expect of yourself nothing less than success, than greatness, than reaching the pinnacle of performance, than leading the team in performance, than receiving top sales awards, than achieving your potential. You have the right to be great but greatness never comes with hope. Greatness comes with that inner confidence and expectation seen in the dedication and commitment of all men and women who have achieved what most people only hope for.

My life changed significantly that baseball season of 1985. My hopes became expectations and my expectations became successes, not only in my selling career, but also in all aspects of my life. My challenge to every sales person hoping to find success is to change your hope to a positive expectation and then put forth the effort each day to make your success a reality.

Sales Isn’t Easy, But It Sure Is Worth It

My father would tell me when I was very young, “If a job is difficult it must have value and the reason so few people pursue it is due to its difficulty.” He must have said that when I was in high school and thinking of going into medicine. It wasn’t until years later that I made a career out of sales. Guess what, that saying still applies and it applies especially to sales. Do you realize that selling is one of the most highly compensated of all professions. Sales people are in the top five percent of all wage earners. I coach a twenty-nine year old man who earned over a quarter of a million dollars last year. Another young twenty-seven year old was making ten dollars an hour working in a parts department a year ago and is now making ten thousand dollars a month as a sales person. A seasoned executive resigned his position and a comfortable six-figure income to more than double his earnings as a sales person.

Selling isn’t easy or everyone would be doing it. Selling is truly a career that compensates its practitioners proportionately for all their time and effort. You can’t give sales a half-hearted effort and expect to receive a full effort income; it can’t be done. Highly compensated sales people work as hard at selling as top surgeons in medicine or top attorneys in the legal profession, or any other top performing and highly compensated professional. Selling requires an extreme effort and daily improvement to reach an extreme income. In sales your income is typically tied directly to your performance. Unlike executives that drive a business to bankruptcy and then give themselves million dollar bonuses, sales people receive an income commensurate to their performance.

Those things in life that come too easily are often the things appreciated the least. As sales people work and study to perfect their skills, they gain a greater appreciation of their profession and the financial rewards within their grasp. They gain a depth of understanding that what they are doing reaches far beyond the personal rewards and extends to a higher plain, that of providing service to others. Selling isn’t easy, but it sure feels good to help people solve their problems and meet their needs. A few years ago while traveling in Alaska as part of one of my client incentive trips, I came across a tree growing out of solid rock. There was no soil to nourish the tree, only a crack in a solid rock mass several hundred yards in diameter. The effort that tree made to sprout and grow became the strength necessary to survive the harsh arctic environment.

Becoming a successful sales person is no different than that tree. If you can over come the trials and opposition that sales people face each day, the time will come when you will reap abundant rewards of character and wealth. Everyone that enters the world of sales will not succeed. Everyone is not willing to pay the price necessary for success. I was training a young sales person a few years ago; a young man that I truly believed had promise. After a few days of discouragement and rejection, he came to me and said he was not “cut out” for a career in sales. Based on his attitude I had to agree. He wasn’t willing to pay the price. One of my favorite poems, Good Timber, by Douglas Malloch, recounts the growth of a tree while overcoming the obstacles of nature to grow and develop. The tree that flourishes in spite of opposition has the strength of root and trunk to survive and ultimately thrive. This poem creates a great analogy comparing the growth of a tree to that of a man. I like to think of that man as becoming a highly successful sales person. I share the poem with you – enjoy.

Good Timber
By Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.

Sales People Need To Become Partners With the Decision Makers

I’ve come to the conclusion that most sales people are lazy. I’m not so sure they intend to be lazy; I just think that is all they know. In fact, many sales people may truly believe they are doing all they can possibly do in their efforts to persuade people to purchase their products and services. There is so much more they could be doing if they only knew what to do. Becoming a partner with your customer is one of the most significant things a sales person can do to increase their effectiveness.

Think of the partner relationship as you would the relationship you have with your very best friend, relative or even a spouse. This kind of interaction doesn’t happen over night and generally matures over time and events. Years ago when I was a rookie sales person in the steel industry, I discovered by accident the power of this type of relationship. The company was National Steel Corporation headquartered in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The customer was Joe Linney, the manager of iron ore, coal and transportation. At first, I was like most any other sales person that called on Joe. We all had similar products at similar prices and transportation requirements. As I dealt with Joe, I was just another iron ore peddler. I was working hard at what I did, but didn’t really know what to do, to better position myself and my products with him. I called on him regularly and asked about his current and future needs. I would follow up with any specific information he requested and let him know that I was always there to help.

One day as I evaluated my potential sales opportunities I decided that I didn’t know nearly as much as I thought I did about my prospects and determined to learn my industry through the needs of my potential customers. I decided that I would begin with National Steel and Joe Linney. First of all, I spent time both in person and on the phone learning all I could about Joe, his job responsibilities, successes, goals, objectives, pet projects, problems, challenges, and what made him look good in the eyes of his superiors, etc. I learned about his hobbies, interests, what he like to eat, his favorite restaurants, children and spouse. I believe that over time I learned more about Joe than any other sales person in my industry. We became business friends.

I began to present solutions to Joe’s problems, not just trying to sell him something. I understood his pain and tried to relieve his stress. I presented solutions, not products. I made him look good in the eyes of his superiors. We worked together to achieve his goals and corporate aspirations. I spent the time to truly understand his operational challenges, his raw material requirements, stockpile constraints, transportation nuances, and personnel matters. I believe in some respects that I knew Joe and his world of steel making almost as well as he did. Over time I was able to help him in ways my competition could never comprehend. I became Joe’s partner in achieving his goals and objectives. There were no challenges that Joe faced in his job that the two of us couldn’t solve. When he was promoted to Vice-President I almost felt as though I had been promoted. Many of the people at the corporate office thought I was an employee of National Steel. I can truly say that my success as a sales person in the steel industry came as a result of learning how to become a partner with my customers.

Vendor, preferred vendor and partner are three levels of relationships that sales people have with their customers. Unfortunately, most sales people have a “vendor” relationship. This means when the customer needs something, the sales person will more than likely submit a bid. The preferred vendor will already be on the bidding list and will receive an invitation to bid. The partner will make a recommendation to the buyer and because of the trust that exists in their relationship will supply the product or service without it ever going to bid. Which type of relationship do you want with your customers and prospects?

In addition to the examples used in my story about becoming a partner with Joe Linney and National Steel, let me share five rules to becoming a partner with your customers and prospects.

1. Build Rapport – People buy from people they believe, like and trust. You should be working on the relationship long before you become aware of their need. Sales people who just show up like vultures when they see a specific sales opportunity will never build the relationship necessary to gain the trust of the buyer.

2. Learn their Business – The better you understand the total scope of the customer or prospect’s business, the better position you will be in to make accurate recommendations. When they know that you know their business you will gain their trust.

3. Know their Needs – Ask probing questions to learn their needs. Be specific. Your objective should be to know more about their needs than they do. When you understand the situation you can solve their problems with authority and certainty.

4. Offer Suggestions – Anticipate the customer or prospects needs. Through your experience working with similar customers, help them to meet needs and solve problems before they ever surface. Your knowledge, wisdom and experience will become a sought after tool in their daily work activities.

5. Be There – Make yourself available to help. See them on a regular basis. Talk with them and consult with them about all aspects of their job. Listen, consult, recommend, and supply. Become a part of the decision making process.

Stay Focused On Your Sales Territory And Your Own Opportunities

We have all heard the phrase, “The grass is greener on the other side of the hill.” Many sales people find it difficult to focus on their territory, product, or customer base. They want to move into a new territory, or find themselves wishing they had the area worked by other sales people. Several years ago I was training a new sales person who had been in sales for about a year. He was given the accounts that no one else wanted. He also had the opportunity to find new sales opportunities, but all of the real good accounts were previously assigned to the other sales people. He had all the dreaded accounts and having any large degree of success was very unlikely. He was always talking about how great a sales person he could be if he only had the other sales people’s accounts. He was always looking at other’s success and wishing his territory and account base were different.

That first year was not a successful one. His attention was blurred by the success of others, and he was unable to focus clearly on his own potential. As we began the second year of training, I was finally able to help him see the untapped potential within his own accounts and his own territory. He began to prospect in areas previously overlooked. He dug deeper within his own accounts. He brought insight to companies unwilling to listen in prior months. He changed his belief about his area and his accounts and focused on finding success. Within a very short time he began finding greater success than he ever thought possible. More people seemed to have a need for his product and those who purchased previously were now buying in greater quantities. He was receiving referrals and introductions to companies needing his services. What he discovered was very similar to the story told by Russell Conwell entitled Acres of Diamonds. Here is the story. See if you can find any correlation with this story and your own sales attitude and focus.

Acres of Diamonds

There once lived near the river Indus an ancient Persian by the name of Al Haphid. Al Haphid owned a large farm, that had orchards and grain fields and gardens—money at interest—and he was counted as a wealthy and a happy man. Happy because he was wealthy and wealthy because he was contented. One day there visited him one of the ancient Buddhist priests—a wise man of the East—who told him about the discovery of diamonds in Europe. He said that diamonds are so very valuable that if Al Haphid had a handful he could purchase the whole country, and with a mine of diamonds, he could place his children upon thrones, through the influence of their great wealth. Having heard all about diamonds, Al Haphid was determined to seek for them.

He sold his farm the next day and with the money departed, traveling up and down the whole of Europe. He sought in every place where he had heard of any indication of such gems but finding none, he spent all his money and became very poor, in rags, in poverty, and in hunger. At last, in despair, he flung himself into the sea—on the shore of the Thames—and sank from sight, never to rise in this life again.

Al Haphid’s successor, the man who bought his farm in India, one day led his camel out into the garden to drink. As the animal put his nose down into the shallow water of the garden brook, Al Haphid’s successor noticed a curious flash of light from the white sands of the stream. Reaching his hand into the stream, he pulled out a black stone having an eye of light that reflected all the hues of the rainbow.

He took the pebble into the house, and put it on the mantle, which covers the central fires in an Eastern house, and then went his way and forgot all about it. A few days after that, the same old priest that told Al Haphid about diamonds came in to visit Al Haphid’s successor. The moment he entered the drawing room door he saw a flash of light from the mantle and he rushed up to it and shouted, “Here’s a diamond! Here’s a diamond! Has Al Haphid returned?” The old farmer said that Al Haphid had not returned and also said, “That is not a diamond. It is nothing but a stone. We found it right out here in our garden.” Said the old priest, “I know a diamond when I see one. That is a diamond.”

Then together they rushed out into the garden. They stirred up the white sands with their fingers, and 'lo there came up other more beautiful, more valuable gems than the first. And, thus was discovered the great diamond mines of Galconda, the most magnificent diamond mines in all the history of the world. The Koohinor of England, and the Orlov of Russia, the greatest crown jewels on earth came from Galconda’s diamond mines.

Had Al Haphid remained at home and dug in his own cellar, or underneath his own wheat fields, or in his own garden, instead of wretchedness, starvation, poverty, and suicide in a strange land, he would have had acres of diamonds!"