DRIVING BUSINESS: Selling Champions (and Second Grade Selling)
"UNDERPERFORMANCE" requires EXPLANATION...TOP Performance needs NO EXPLANATION! The RESULTS will speak for itself.
Fundamentals...
The Basics. Champions do The FUNDAMENTALS extremely well whether in sports or business or selling.
There is no shortage of training and trainers and coaches and “experts” in the marketplace today on the “How-to’s” of selling. Do this. Do that. Then do the other thing. There are trends and data dumps and weekly call sheets and long, longer and too-long sales meetings. There are many managers who manage well but fail at improving the performance of their teams.
Here's a fundamental Fact: There are really no New Fundamentals.
Even though things have changed for us all over the past few years and we’ve certainly had to make some adjustments in how we do what we do, by its very definition the CORE principles or the FUNDAMENTALS remain largely the same.
The fundamentals are the basics and the A-B-C’s and the building blocks that have been around for 100 years. It's really about THINKING DIFFERENTLY about something you already know a lot about. Names like John Patterson and Zig Ziglar, Jeffrey Gitomer and Napoleon Hill come to mind. Their selling and success principles are far from new.
In fact, they’re old. But could there be some NEW IDEAS for you in those ageless fundamentals?
The top performers in selling do these fundamentals very well.
Most everyone else seems to be looking for a trick play or short-cut or a way to win the sales lottery. The problem with short cuts is that they often lead to detours and short-changing your success by neglecting to become really good at the basics of high-performance selling.
In his book, The Success Principles, Jack Canfield relates a study on selling done by the University of Notre Dame. It’s a study that’s been done before and the results are always consistent. The conclusion? That most salespeople quit too soon. Or never really get started at all. Or base their starting and sticking or quitting on skills that are so much LESS than they should or could be.
It’s the performance of any individual (in their field) that makes them known by the client or customer, and their peers as one of the best at what they do.
My second-grade teacher was Miss Eula Belle Appleton.
I loved Miss Eula Belle. And she loved me.
I was hall monitor, obviously a “high achiever” as second graders go. I’ll never forget coming home at the end of that school year, handing my report card to my mother and hearing her say, “Congratulations son, you’ve been promoted!”
“What’s promoted?” I asked her.
“It means you’ll be going to THIRD GRADE next year.”
Big Problem...I didn’t want to go!
I was somebody in second grade! I loved it in second grade. Only later did I discover that moving up and moving on is what life (and work) is all about. It’s why they make those desks in second grade so small…you can’t stay there!
But lots of people try it just the same. What do salespeople love to talk about?
Their experience?
How many years they’ve been doing this or that. How they’ve seen it all. How if you can sell cars you can sell insurance or hats or shoes or anything. Here's a thought, what if you provided some EVIDENCE that could make your case? Who really cares about your "years of experience?" What they really want to know is how you've performed? Are you a Champion? What does the Marketplace say about YOU and HOW you do what you do FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS?
Hmmm. Know anyone still in “SECOND GRADE” when it comes to selling? Maybe with TEN YEARS EXPERIENCE in second grade selling?
Let’s think for just a moment what it means to be a selling professional.
That’s the thing most managers think they want…a professional.
Here is wisdom:
Webster defines “professional” as, “One engaged in a specific activity as a means of livelihood…Behaving in such a way as to APPEAR PROFESSIONAL!”
Performance by person or persons receiving pay.”
Fact is, I’ve had friends who played “professional” baseball.
They were in what’s known as “A” ball. They were professionals, but still a long way from the major leagues. They rode buses day and night, from game to game and ate hotdogs for lunch and dinner. They were getting PAID (not much) to play, but they were a long way from what most people THINK about when someone says PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL.
And so it is with Selling.
Anyone can appear to be professional, and even receive pay for what you do, but that alone doesn’t get you into the major leagues of Selling.
Get in “THE SHOW!” Think Performance. Not just Professional. It’s the performance of any individual (in their field) that makes them known by the client or customer and their peers as one of the best at what they do.
Is that how you want to be known? Or how you want YOUR sales professionals to be known? Here’s a short list on how to get to the majors in SELLING...
Work harder on YOU than you do on Selling. What does that mean? Simple. Read, Listen, Write. Those are all “fundamentals” confirmed by history as leading to BIG success. Most ALL LEADERS are great STUDENTS, the EVIDENCE is too powerful to ignore.
Get in The Show! In today’s marketplace it’s all about the show. It’s about the buyer’s emotional experience and feeling good about spending their money. Think Disney World. When I go there I always spend more than I’d planned but it feels so good I come back and do it over and over. Disney’s “show” is worth it. Is YOURS?
Set BIG Goals. Big is available, if you really believe it then why not just go for BIG? Big ideas lead to big success. Sometimes after big failures, but failing is part of the success equation. Just don’t take too long to get back up and get on with it. Your audience is waiting.
Bring your Commitment to your daily Performance. Commitment is stronger than motivation. When you make a commitment to anything, you’ve decided to press on with your performance even on days when you might not feel very motivated. Get committed and the marketplace will pay you well for your performance.
Pay attention to the fundamentals of your Selling Performance. Somewhere a Prospective buyer is waiting to see "Your Show."