Activated Selling

Here’s a crazy paradox: Giant mega-companies are trying to convince everyone that they are nimble, quirky, local, and small(ish) in attitude. Tiny companies on the other hand would like everyone to believe that they have massive resources behind them (darkly hinting at possible connections to Google.)

Why is this? It’s because large companies are fearful of being viewed as out of touch. Small companies, on the other hand, are worried that you’ll think that they are going to have their lunch money taken away from them on the playground. They want to convince you that they are strong, resourced, and well-connected.

When you think about it, this is really a lot of foolishness. Everyone knows that Coke is neither local nor small. And no, they do not care about your active and youthful lifestyle. “Startup.com” on the other hand has not really convinced anyone that they are on the verge of a major deal with the Chinese government.

As a sales person, you should avoid getting caught up in these silly attempts at misdirection. Simply highlight your strengths and do not apologize for them.

If your company is small and nimble, that’s OK. Let people know about your ability to turn on a dime and your profound customer focus. If your company is huge and has more staff and resources than Thor, good for you. You can boast of your longevity, stability, and market expertise.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m a big fan of just telling the truth. It means you have far less to remember

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Let’s face it – sales can be an extremely stressful profession.

We’ve got quarterly numbers to make. We’ve got commissions to earn in order to pay our mortgages. Bonuses and accelerators are dependent upon extraordinary performance. And let’s not even mention “Club,” that fabulous getaway to the beaches of Morocco in the event that we hit our goals.

Last, but certainly not least, if we don’t perform to very specific standards…well, we get fired.

Here’s a great way to lessen your stress. Just accept the fact that the end of the quarter is going to arrive, no matter what. It’s going to arrive if you make your numbers, if you fail to make your numbers, if you win the lottery, or if you get elected to the U.S. Senate. In other words, there’s absolutely nothing you can do about the inevitable passage of time.

The key is to stop worrying about those things over which you have no control. That includes your boss’s temper, your assistant’s personality disorder, or the meteorite that just struck your client’s warehouse.

You can’t slow down or speed up time – but you can perform the basic activities that give you the highest probability of success. Stay organized, engage in regular and productive contact with your prospects and offer the best products and services at a reasonable price.

By focusing on the things you do well – and that you do control – your level of stress will decline dramatically, and your level of success will rise.

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I watched my hapless cat trying to hunt birds the other day. She didn’t feel like running or jumping, so she sat behind a tree. At the fountain in my yard, a dozen birds gathered to chat and have a few sips of water. Every once in a while, the cat would peer out to see if a bird might be foolishly strolling by.

Needless to say, the birds wisely avoided the tree, and the cat eventually fell asleep.

The same scenario plays out millions of times each day in sales organizations across the country. Sales people engage in similar types of magical thinking – hoping that a prospect will call, or email, or perhaps drop in on the office and ask for a contract.

It’s true that every once in a while, a contract will walk in your door. Just like every once in a while the slot machine will dump a bunch of quarters in the tray. But in almost every case, you’ll run out of quarters before your tray overflows.

In sales, consistency and systems are essential. You need to know who you have to contact in your target organizations. You need to know how many calls, emails, letters, and smoke signals you have to send out each day.

You don’t necessarily have to work like a lunatic – but you do have to reliably perform those basic tasks each day.

Then it just comes down to being truthful, empathetic, and motivated to help your clients.

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Playing soccer in 8th grade, I was always surprised by the tremendous inconsistency of our team’s level of play. On one particular day at practice, our efforts had deteriorated to what I call the “Six-Year-Old-Scrum” – which is basically a bunch of kids running around in a pack like chickens with their heads cut off.

The coach blew his whistle, yelling, “Stop, stop, stop!” He explained to us that we had now reached the level of competition where our natural talents would no longer carry us. He said that if we hoped to be successful, we would need to be disciplined, consistent, and capable of running actual plays.

Sales people often display this undisciplined approach to their jobs. We rely upon our natural talents to make the sale. After all, we’re better at this than the average person, which is why we remain in the profession.

Unfortunately, by adopting this haphazard approach, we end up losing sales that we should have won. Equally bad, we expend tremendous amounts of unnecessary energy. Think of how much harder that pack of six-year-olds is working than is the single player who executes a flawless pass – and then positions himself for the goal.

I don’t care what system you adopt – there are plenty of good ones. But by systematically performing your daily tasks – from consistent prospecting, through coherent discovery, to the building of a valid value proposition – you will win more sales, and your work will seem both easier and more entertaining.

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Charles De Gaulle once said that, “The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”

This is an important lesson that all of us should learn.

How often have you felt as though you could not possibly take a vacation? Or a day off? Or enjoy a weekend day?

With uncomfortable frequency, we consider our presence to be absolutely necessary to the success of the enterprise in which we are involved. Particularly in sales situations where we carry most of the deep knowledge and the important relationships.

If you find yourself chronically feeling this way, there may be something amiss. In fact, if your absence would send your company into an immediate death spiral, lots of things are wrong. You have not sufficiently delegated. You have not put clear plans and systems into place. You have not communicated your position well to others. And you are probably smothering your client(s) to boot.

So what would happen if you were absent for a few days? Would your deals really implode? These are questions worth asking.

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I know this is hard to believe, but a few years back, I actually lost two sales in a row to my most feared competitor.

I saw the enormous investment that the competition had made in technology, the huge staff of battle-hardened sales people they’d hired, and the spectacular narrative that they were weaving for each prospect.

I started to panic.

Then a good friend and colleague brought me back to earth. “You’ve beaten them many times before, right?” he asked. “And each time you win a sale, do you think they slink home and decide that you are unbeatable?

I understood his point immediately. No one is unbeatable every time and on every occasion. Which means that every competitor can be beaten – and every time you lose a deal you can snap back on the next one.

It’s not whether or not you get knocked down. It’s whether or not you get back up.

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