Mindless Selling

"With a strong enough desire for success and a commitment to do whatever it takes, most people are capable of overcoming any obstacle in order to succeed." --Dave Kurlan

After some soul searching, (It was me searching his soul), I found that there was more than a little resentment for his father. I also learned that he would have loved to prove his father wrong about not amounting to anything. When I asked what would have happened

if he could have proved that he was worthy of his father’s respect, he told me that he would have been the happiest person on earth. When I asked him how important it would have been to him, he told me that nothing would have been more important. With that, we found the magic, the one thing that was more powerful than any skill, more potent than any technique, more motivating than any car or boat. We found his desire!

A salesperson can be lacking in destination, compass, outlook, exercise program, style, record collection, and bravery. If there is a strong enough desire to be successful, along with a commitment to do whatever it takes, then most people are capable of overcoming any obstacle to succeed. Bill was no exception. Lacking in every conceivable way, Bill was about to prove that strong desire and commitment were indeed enough.

I still had one obstacle to take care of regarding Bill. Where in God’s name could I have him sell? I certainly couldn’t recommend him to a client and he surely wasn’t capable of hitting the streets and landing a sales position on his own. So what then? I did what any savvy businessperson would do. I hired him, but without any expectation that he would develop business. In the sales training business, no one will spend one red cent on a training program if they don’t perceive that the trainer or his sales rep was significantly stronger than the best salesperson on his team. Bill certainly wouldn’t meet that expectation, so I assigned him to a territory where he couldn’t hurt me, and we began the metamorphosis.

After setting goals, writing a plan, committing to the plan and beginning his exercise program, Bill was on his way. It wasn’t a very good start though. At first, Bill had problems worse than getting past secretaries. They were hanging up on him. Remember that he didn’t speak very well. It wasn’t long though before he was able to talk with secretaries, but couldn’t get through to decision-makers. That was followed by a time where he got through to presidents but was promptly hung up on. By the beginning of the second month, Bill was able to have a conversation with the president of the company, but it would always end with a disinterested prospect. Six weeks had passed and he still didn’t have an appointment, but he wasn’t discouraged. In fact, he was growing stronger every day! He was beginning to see the progress he was making, the change in his voice, and the change in his confidence. More importantly, he learned not to take any of this personally.

With continued persistence he finally reached the point where he could have intelligent conversations with prospects and book an appointment to see them, only to have them cancel, reschedule, no show, or kick him out when he got there. When he did finally make stronger appointments, his prospects were too tough for him and the calls went no where. By the fifth month, Bill was making effective sales calls, only to end up with a prospect that wouldn’t do business with him. I sensed that this process was similar to taking a Chimpanzee and attempting to turn him into a salesperson. At this point I was sure Bill would sell. He had learned more about the art of selling than most salespeople ever would, and was only failing because he was trying to sell sales training, a tough enough sale for a seasoned trainer!

I was eating dinner in a hotel restaurant one evening when Bill suddenly appeared at my table. He must have made eighty or ninety phone calls to track me down, and then he had to drive two hours to get there. I looked at him and when I asked him what he was doing there he had the strangest grin on his face. I tell you, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. It wasn’t ear to ear, it was a 360o full circle beam! Absolutely the happiest man on planet earth was standing in front of me, and I still didn’t know why. I thought he was about to tell me that he met a girl, fell in love, was getting married, won the lottery, gained five pounds, or, pray tell, did he sell someone?

He slapped a contract down on the table, and then, having finally sold a training program, he quit. He no longer had to prove anything to anyone. If he could sell sales training he could sell anything. Since he could sell, he didn’t even have to be in sales. He could do anything. His father’s ghost would haunt him no more!

Bill packed up his things and moved to Florida. His brother lived there year round and his mother resided there during the winter months. When he arrived he took a job in music therapy, an art for which he was trained. A music therapist travels to nursing homes and long term care facilities and provides several hours of participative, soothing music making for the residents. Bill was good at this, and if you remember my comments in chapter two about the career from which you shouldn’t jump to sales, social work was one of the biggies.

After several months of music therapy, Bill asked his boss why they didn’t have more accounts. She told him that no one had been calling for their services lately. He asked her why no one from the firm had been making sales calls. She told him that no one knew how to make sales calls. He said, "well I know something about that. Is it OK if I try it?"

"Sure", she said. Six months later, Bill had tripled their business. He added twenty-seven new accounts, and was expanding throughout Florida. He acquired an equity position in the company and became a partner. Three years later Bill was ready to begin franchising the music therapy business on a national scale. So his father was right. He never amounted to anything. He amounted to something!

"The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work." --Arthur Brisbane