REMINDER: This 12-part series began on January 3. If you’ve missed something go back and read the Introduction, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2 before continuing.
I mentioned once before that if you were to look at the photos and videos that come from your company’s annual winner’s trip, whatever it’s called, you would quickly realize that the secret to winning is not looks, talent, degrees, or pedigrees (privileged background).
Here in chapter 3 Art Williams reveals the real secret to winning. The secret to winning is desire, the will to win, or you may just call it basic “want to.” You can have all four of those components mentioned above, but if you don’t have desire, you will still fail.
I have always been an avid reader, especially non-fiction books that feed my mind. I have used reading as one way to always be a “student of the business” in every industry where I’ve worked. Years ago I read a short book written by Napoleon Hill, called Think and Grow Rich. In that book Hill documents his study of successful people, sharing common denominators they possessed. In the book he lists a simple six-step plan that goes like this:
- Have a specific goal
- Set a specific time in which to achieve your goal
- Write down your goal
- Develop a plan to achieve your goal
- Decide the price you are willing to pay
- Think about reaching your goal every day
Regardless what position you hold at your company, these six steps can’t be overlooked. I know first-hand they work, and they will work for you. Your success won’t happen overnight, but if you want it bad enough, you can become somebody special.
Let’s look at this concept of desire, in order to understand why it’s such a powerful force.
Desire gains strength when it has a concrete form
That’s why I advocate setting sales goals at the beginning of each month, because it forces the construction of a game plan for achievement. When you apply your company’s activity system of appointments, proposals and closes against that goal, you have a solid game plan.
Desire becomes obsession
Writing it down, reading it over and thinking about it constantly ensures that your goal becomes a part of your daily life. This is the exact process young athletes follow on their path to becoming Olympic gold medalists.
Desire becomes a commitment
At this stage you go beyond thinking and dreaming and devote your time and energy to achieving the goal. Art says that everyone that’s done this typically has gone through three stages before reaching the final commitment level necessary to see things through to the end.
The first one is The Lying Stage. This is where deep down you really don’t think you can do it so you walk around lying to everybody you talk to. You tell everybody how you are going to really do something great, but when you look in the mirror at night before turning off the light, you say to yourself, “Who are you kidding?” You really do want to make it bad, but you don’t believe you will.
That stage is followed by The Quitting Stage. After fighting through the lying stage and working like crazy for months, you hit the wall and go into a sales slump where everything you touch goes south. You finally tell yourself that you’re not cut out for this and you begin to look for a “good job.” It doesn’t take long for you to realize there aren’t any “good jobs” out there. So you suck it up and re-double your efforts only to hit another wall a few months down the road. After repeating this vicious cycle several times you eventually make the final commitment to do whatever it takes for however long it takes to achieve your goal.
That third phase is The “DO IT” Stage. This is where you turn the final corner and begin your real road to success. Talk to anybody who has been there and they will tell you these three stages are as real as death and taxes. They are quite normal for folks who are obsessed with doing something big.
Desire then becomes endurance
This component is that extra ingredient ensuring victory. It also requires realizing that succeeding is a marathon and not a sprint. Regardless where you work you might as well plan on everything possible happening negatively. I can name countless salespeople who have been “shooting stars,” doing really well for two or four or six months. Regrettably, they get washed out of their business after a sales slump rocked their confidence. Because they had no endurance, they never made it a full lap around the track.
One of the best examples of endurance is the most successful international golfer of all time, South African Gary Player. He is the only golfer that won the British Open in three different decades. He’s also the oldest player ever to make the cut at The Masters (1998 at age 63).
One day at a tournament a man came up to him and said he would give anything if he could hit a ball like Player. Usually a very polite person, Player looked the man in the eye and said, “No, you wouldn’t. You’d give anything to hit a golf ball like me if it was easy. But to be able to hit the ball like me you’ve got to get up at five o’clock in the morning. You’ve got to swing at golf balls until you’ve hit a thousand. When your hand starts bleeding, you walk to the clubhouse, wash the blood off and slap a bandage on it. Then go right back and hit another thousand golf balls. That’s what it takes to hit a golf ball like me.”
So if you are really looking for the secret to winning, it’s not a secret at all. It’s right here in front of you. The secret to winning is desire. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
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From time to time, everybody puts off doing things because they “don’t feel like doing them.” Over the Christmas holidays you promised yourself you would start exercising as soon as the ball dropped. Then you committed to getting a jump on your taxes as soon as the W-2’s arrived, rather than doing an all-nighter alongside a stale pizza and a bitter pot of strong coffee in mid-April. But you didn’t do either one, along with many other chores and projects on your radar screen.
In the spring of 1967, shortly before I graduated from high school, Dad acquired the Biscayne. If that doesn’t ring a bell with you, you’re probably just too young. The Biscayne was the low-end model of the Chevrolet nameplate. This one was a 1963, stripped down, 3-speed on the column model in baby-poop brown.
possess the skills. If that’s the case, show them a picture of what it should look like; that’s what leaders do. Afterward, conduct some test driving with the rep and chances are their confidence will quickly increase, unless it doesn’t. If it doesn’t move following that, then look into the attitude side of the issue.
Victor Borge, a renowned 20th century Danish comedian (affectionately known as the “Clown Prince of Denmark”) was famous for saying, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”
Every year about this time I encourage outside salespeople by discussing and reminding them of the dozens of creative selling sources and prospecting methods available to them. These are all designed to help sales folks become armed and dangerous with resources to help remain productive during the lean lead months. Today I want to look into some behind the scenes logistics to help make that happen.
Finally, if you maintain a commercial customer list it will be easy and convenient to stop by and place some flyers detailing employee discounts in the break areas or near the time clock. Do this for any commercial customers that are in the footprint of where you are working that day. Make sure to explain to the owner or manager that this is a FREE benefit for his employees, for being a customer. You will eventually get some phone calls as some of these employees develop a need for some of your services at their homes.
You know it seems like everybody grows up with the feeling they are special and different. During the 1960’s my generation watched Art Linkletter ask children what they wanted to be when they grew up on a TV show called, “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” In the 1990’s my kids watched Bill Cosby do a remake of that same show, and the answers were always zany and varied across the board, everything from President of the U.S., to Hollywood movie star, to Olympic gold medalist, to astronaut, to Super Bowl MVP quarterback.
The fourth principle he shared was that you must realize that you can change. Your friends, relatives and maybe even spouse may not believe in you, but if you believe in you, nothing else matters. Ever heard of these “losers?”…
7 – Tinkering – 20% of salespeople produce 80% of the sales. Therefore, be very careful who you listen to and insulate yourself from the non-producers. Do you really think the losers in your office want you to succeed? Stop tinkering with the turkeys in the barnyard and start flying with the eagles overhead.
Questions are your best friends – When your prospect says they really want to buy, but can’t because of (whatever), simply verify it by responding with some version of “If that wasn’t an issue would you proceed?” If that is truthful they will simply agree. If there is something else, they will bring up the additional objection. Either way you have isolated an honest concern you can respond to.
Now before you dis the above suggestion, let me explain how I came up with these numbers. I’m visualizing a rep who receives one company lead per day and generates another lead per day personally. That would generate 10 points. Secondly I’m expecting this rep will complete two proposals per day, generating another 20 points. And finally, since “Selling is like shaving; if you don’t do a little every day you will soon become a bum,” let’s say this rep closes one sale per day, for an additional 15 points, totaling 45 points for the week.
In today’s post, I want to remind salespeople to never give up, by sharing some ideas to ensure that never happens. Anybody can quit, and frankly most people do. If this were not so, the winners circle would be a lot bigger, and far more crowded. Therefore by simply hanging on and refusing to give up, you dramatically increase your chances of winning.
A friend of mine, who is also involved in sales training in the Midwest, told me that recently she and her husband were shopping for a graduation gift for their favorite niece. They found an attractive ladies’ sport watch and decided to buy it. After telling the store salesperson they wanted the watch, the clerk violated a selling no-no. He volunteered a 30% discount although they didn’t ask for one, and had already told him they wanted the item.
As an example of what I’m talking about, here’s a response I’ll bet you hear a lot: 
So that is the first and main thing. But there are requirements for your work to be a career:
Instinct – Wayne Gretzky often said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” A salesperson must possess that level of anticipation and drive and always operate by “the little bit more” principle so they don’t have to be told every move to make, because business moves too quickly to try to teach that skill.
Let me first share this short yarn about “trust” and then I’ll get back into this important topic and discuss the final two types of objections.
No ($) Money
No Urgency
Art Sobczak, a renowned phone sales trainer for the last 35 years, says people often assume that where there’s a pitch, there’s a catch. “If you say, ‘Here is my pitch,’ people will look for something to object to,” he says. “You really shouldn’t even use the word ‘pitch’ outside of baseball. Instead, call it a recommendation. That sends the message to prospects that you want to engage in a conversation and help them.”
At that point, regardless what you are thinking, stop talking and listen to what Glockenspiel says next.
The last bit of advice I’ll give you is very simple, but I think it could make a big difference in your life. Once a week, you should write a note to someone. Not an email. A note on a piece of paper. It will take you exactly 10 minutes. Talk to an adult, let them tell you what a stamp is. You can put the stamp on the envelope. Again, 10 minutes, once a week. I will help you right now by dictating for you the first note you should write. It will say:
A few years ago my wife wanted and needed a new car. She had been talking about a full size SUV rather than another sedan. The good news was that it was early fall and time for the change of model year, meaning a good chance for a deep discount. The bad news was that for the first time in history gasoline was over $4 per gallon. We discussed it and decided a perfect storm had been created for us to go ahead and purchase the vehicle, because we felt that gas prices would come back down to reasonable levels within a few months.
Several months ago I wrote a post about technician selling and received many favorable comments, telling me a lot of subscribers are either service managers or business owners who realize how critical tech sales are in blue collar businesses. This week I’m going to broach that topic again, primarily from the perspective that techs know they are expected to sell, but often they aren’t getting the traction, and results that are expected, even when they work hard at the selling part of their job. If this sounds familiar, take the load off, prop up your feet for a few minutes and look through this list of possible reasons you aren’t hanging “W’s” on the scoreboard. Following each of these suggestions are some comments describing what might possibly be happening:
Are you likable to people? For the 1,000th time, people buy from those they trust and like.
If you didn’t get a chance to read Part I of this post from last week, go read it right now 
After completing your comparison, you might consider putting an exclamation point on your discussion by making a bold statement like one of these; “We charge more because we do more, in every area of the package.” Another attention-getter statement is this one;
I was once told about a very unusual place in Solingen, Germany called Museum Plagiarius. This site supposedly only showcases knockoffs of various items by exhibiting the fakes alongside their authentic counterparts.
You must know how to quickly and surgically point out the crucial differences between companies. Don’t be afraid to state that, “We charge more because we do more, in every area of the package.” 
My (Doug) favorite fast food place to eat is Chick-fil-A. Their food and their service consistently beat the pants off all their competitors. When I’m whizzing down an Interstate highway and it’s lunch time, I’ll go out of my way, passing a dozen of other fast food places to find one of their stores (although they are usually close by major exits). A few weeks ago I stumbled on the article below, which was written by John Eades, CEO of LearnLoft in Charlotte, N.C., and I thought Selling Point readers could glean something from the “leadership lessons” Eades discusses. Here is his article in its entirety.
Do Common Things in an Uncommon Way
Be Driven by Purpose
If you’re familiar with any of my work you know I’m big on advocating for salespeople to perform pre-call preparation before every sales appointment. Today I want to go one step further and discuss crafting a backup plan, because circumstances often change. Football quarterbacks are always prepared with an “audible,” every time they approach the line of scrimmage and see a change in the defense that spoils the play they called in the huddle. And I don’t know anybody that hasn’t heard the line from the Robert Burns’ poem that states, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
My PLAN B was to ask my wife to grab a blanket as I told her and the kids we would open the doors, toss the blanket over the critter, and grab the blanket bundle and head for the front door, where we would shake the flying squirrel from the blanket and back into the wild. The kids excitedly said, “Awesome,” and my wife, who is an RN, warned me to be very careful because this animal could have rabies. So as my kids each opened one of the glass doors, I lunged forward with the blanket in hand, only to get a blurry glimpse of the creature sailing over my shoulder into the family room. I’m pretty sure the rodent was the only one in the room who didn’t let out a squeal! For the next several minutes we chased this little fellow unsuccessfully through both the family and dining rooms of our house, trying to bag him with the blanket. Finally we got him, but as my wife opened the front door for me to throw the blanket containing this intruder into the front yard, I felt a sharp stick on my left hand. That little joker bit me just as I was evicting him, and BTW the next morning I got a tetanus shot to ensure I wouldn’t morph into a werewolf.
That last night we gathered in a huddle and committed, “Tonight for sure.” We staked out and waited…and waited…and waited. About 2:30am he finally ambled around the corner of our house, scratching and tearing away at the turf, feeding his nasty face with insects from below the sod. When he reached the agreed-upon spot we exercised the PLAN B I described earlier and, believe it or not, the six of us corralled him so that his only “exit” was to duck into the culvert. We knew then it was just a matter of time. We positioned the trash can as described earlier and about a half hour later our “Jericho shout” sent him running through the culvert, out the other end and into the trash can with a dull thud. My son immediately stood the can upright and we immediately began to fill the can with water from the garden hose. When the can became half-full we took turns holding him down underwater with a broom, waiting for him to breathe his last. Seven minutes later he finally stopped moving around and the Robinson’s celebrated.
How many times have we all heard that “timing is everything?” I can certainly attest to that and will give you an example from my past. In 1980 I made a career change into a sales field totally foreign to any of my past employment experience. The reason I did this was due to a personal encounter I had that completely changed my outlook about how I viewed the way I, and most other Americans, purchased their insurance and savings-related products. I was so enamored with how much these concepts improved my financial situation that after aligning my finances this way I decided to go to work for the company that was offering this radical financial approach.
When you answer objections that have yet to surface, since you won’t be put on the spot to address them, you are actually taking them away from the buyer. You should be aware that if you choose to conduct a pre-emptive strike with a particular objection, you’ll need to introduce it into evidence, something like this:
The vast majority of you who are blue collar salespeople in the services industry are in the midst of your busiest season of the year, working like one-armed wallpaper hangers! No one can possibly accuse you of not working hard, as you “swarm” around your sales territory trying to beat the clock and check every box on your schedule. But, as you erratically bounce from one task to the next, are you keeping the main thing the main thing?
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey says that every task falls into one of four categories or “quadrants.” An urgent matter is usually visible; a ringing phone, your manager standing next to your station in the sales room, or a posted deadline. Urgent matters create pressure on you but may not be important to your big picture. But since importance relates to results, by contributing to your mission, values, and goals, it’s easier to identify.
most important to you look where the sticky notes are posted, which is also where you are spending the most time (which may surprise you). So just like learning to make better eating choices for meals, if given the choice of spending time on a wasteful Quadrant 4 activity, why not choose something from Quadrant 2? If someone asks you to continually solve their Quadrant 3 problems, why not decline and move on to a task in Quadrant 1?
There are times when it is impossible to alter your circumstances, and definitely being enthusiastic and positive is important, but it can’t change the facts or erase history. As an example of this, in today’s post I’ll share a series of personal health events from my own recent past, that are also very applicable to your business life as a salesperson.
2. 
Concentrate fully on the buyer, not faking attention – How do you feel when it appears people have to force themselves to talk with you?
Have you ever asked someone what time it is, and ended up being told how to build a watch? Sounds comical, but some people don’t know how to give brief responses.
In order to do that, you might picture yourself on an elevator as the door opens and your boss steps in and asks, “Nate, where are we on landing the Nebula account?” Realizing he is only going up two floors to his office, which only takes about fifteen seconds, you must respond surgically. “Sir, I met with the economic buyer yesterday, and she committed to a final decision by close of business Tuesday, and I feel really good about our chances.” As your boss walks out of the elevator and the doors are closing, he says, “Good report, email me the minute we know their decision.”
with emails, snail mailings, internet article links, even a drop-by. To remain professional, just ensure that each connection educates, informs or adds insight.
My dad bought our first house in 1955, the year I started school. Until that time we lived in several different rentals, including my grandmother’s basement.
Being a good sales talker certainly doesn’t make you a better communicator, but empathy and understanding will. This is especially important considering that many of today’s buyers want to stay 180⁰ away from hard-selling, fast-talking reps, making it even more difficult for you to avoid being castigated as one of them. That’s why, in order to completely understand others, you must proactively turn your back on your emotions and identify and focus on your prospects or buyers and their circumstances.
Several years ago Lanorris, an experienced blue collar sales inspector with a large national company, shared with me his account of responding to a lead in the small town of Americus, Ga., where a frantic homeowner had a face-to-face encounter with swarming termites. Like most folks in that situation he called three companies to come and provide estimates. Although Lanorris says he conducted a thorough inspection and assessment, and gave a complete presentation of his offering; the homeowner didn’t buy from Lanorris, but rather from a small, one-branch business with much cheaper prices.
I’ve just got to share another piece from 
I keep a daily list of every task I want to accomplish. When I complete each task, I cross it out (or change its color on my screen) to “signal” that I have accomplished it. This little gesture is like a tiny shot of endorphins. It picks me up and gives me energy to attack my next objective.
Regardless whether you make your living as an inside salesperson, a selling admin, an upselling service tech, a call center sales rep, or an outside residential or commercial seller; proficiency on the telephone is as critical to you as air and water. Phone skills are vital for proposal follow-up, appointment setting, prospecting, and who knows, maybe one day you’ll even field an inbound call from somebody who you gave a business card to.
Request
Because your job as a salesperson is repetitive when it comes to prospecting, over time you can easily become stuck in a number of comfort zones related to attitudes, techniques, behavior, and performance. If you have read my book, 
Have you been listening to the “elder statesmen” in your sales room who have informed you that with very few office leads during the off season that it’s just not possible to sell as much as during the “on” season? Has that become your belief and therefore one of your comfort zones?
It’s pretty incredible how often you hear managers complaining about their best employees leaving, and they really do have something to complain about—few things are as costly and disruptive as good people walking out the door.
They hire and promote the wrong people. Good, hard-working employees want to work with like-minded professionals. When managers don’t do the hard work of hiring good people, it’s a major de-motivator for those stuck working alongside them. Promoting the wrong people is even worse. When you work your tail off only to get passed over for a promotion that’s given to someone who glad-handed their way to the top, it’s a massive insult. No wonder it makes good people leave.
While riding with a sales rep one day during some free style drop-in prospecting visits, I decided to turn our time together into a teachable moment. Upon leaving the office, I told the guy when we stopped for lunch that day he should expect me to administer a pop quiz about our touches that morning. He agreed but had a, what’s this all about look on his face.
Here are some verbal signals to recognize, coupled with examples of how they may sound coming from a buyer:
On the other end of the spectrum, here are some non-verbal hints to watch for, which often signal buyer intentions.
Who hasn’t watched Miracle on 34th Street at least once during the Christmas season? Here’s the quick and dirty…Kris Kringle was indignant to find that the person assigned to play Santa at Macy’s was intoxicated. When Kris complains to the event director, she fires that guy and persuades Kris to take his place. He does such a fine job that he is hired to be the Santa for Macy’s flagship New York City store on 34th Street.
Having been married for well over 30 years, I live by the mantra that “I don’t care about being right, I want to be happy.” And I know that when my honey isn’t happy, nobody is happy at our house!
If the problem is left unresolved, the customer will surely find your competition, so remember that the customer’s perception is your reality. You will be amazed at the unexpected sales that can occur when you begin to approach customers with “heartburn” this way. Determine today to stop avoiding and deflecting customer complaints as you work daily in the office. Realize that the extra few minutes and effort that it will take to resolve problems will come back to you tenfold in new sales and referrals, not to mention feeling better about yourself because you are now part of the solution rather than part of the problem.