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Be the Best - Transcribed excerpt from a talk by Clive Miller |
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Have you ever observed or
experienced a contest for the top job, where internal and external candidates
fought for prominence? I’d like to tell you a story of such a contest. John was
the MD of a prosperous firm of accountants. He wanted to retire but was afraid to
hand over control to someone who wasn't up to maintaining the firm's success. It
wasn't clear to him if one of the managers could step into his shoes and so he
kept putting off retirement. He knew that several of his team had the ability yet
he wasn't sure if any of them were ready. The story about John’s selection of a successor, relates to the challenge of a sales job. Most sales people have the ability to sell two to three times as much as they do - without changing territory or account assignments, yet few achieve their potential. Looking around the room, I can see some of you showing appreciative body language - suggesting you agree or like the challenge in these words. Maybe you think I am going to tell you how! Some of you look distinctly hostile to the idea that you could be doing more right now. If you are truly doing everything you think you can then you could interpret someone saying that you can do more, as an insult. If you think that circumstances have a bigger impact on results than skills and habits, then the seed of the idea that you might earn two to three times as much commission, falls on infertile ground. Whatever you think, you are probably right. Those of you who play golf will know the truth of this. You know, if you think about the water . . . that is usually were the ball ends its flight. John wasn't getting any younger and he had to make a decision. He called in some recruitment consultants for advice and to contrast in-house talent with those he might bring in from outside. Bearing in mind the firm’s success, there were no shortage of quality candidates interested. He assembled all of the candidates, both the internal and external, at an off site location hired for the purpose. John spoke to the assembled group and said, "I have a problem and I need to know who among you can solve it. Behind me is the biggest, mightiest, and heaviest door in the country. Who among you, has the power to open it without assistance? The challenge John set was a bit like being faced with an impossible target. Have you ever had your sales target pushed up beyond what you thought possible? When you over perform, what happens to your target for the next year? Yes, it goes up considerably. You know, of course, how managers set sales targets. There is a precise formulae worked out scientifically by the country's best business people and it is taught to all new managers in manager school. It's often referred to by it's more common name - 'guesswork'. Management guess what you might be capable of. Well, if they were to ask you, you are sure to put forward an aggressive assessment, right on the edge of impossible, aren't you? You would be crazy if you did because all managers can recognise when a sales person is lying. They know as soon as his lips start to move. If you say what you think might be possible and your manager adds 20% for good measure, it will hit you hard, in the pocket. John's candidates huffed and puffed a bit. Some of them immediately declared the task pointless as it was obviously impossible for one person to open this huge door by themselves. Others studied the door for a while and discussed how to get some leverage on it. A small group found a flip chart and began a brainstorming session. Eventually everyone seemed stuck. When the Manager who commanded the most respect gave up, so did everyone else. Then one Manager approached the door and gave it a closer inspection. He studied the size and dimensions. Ran his hands across it, prodded it, and peered at the hinges. Finally, when he was satisfied with his inspection, he planted himself in front of the door and grasped the handle. As he pulled on the door, it swung open easily. The other managers had all assumed that the door was truly stuck and that it would require some cleverness to open it, if it could be opened at all. In fact it had been designed and hung by craftsman of the greatest skill, and kept in good order over the centuries. Only the lightest force was needed to open it. John had found his successor. He spoke to the group and said, "Our firm's future success depends on the things we have just seen demonstrated. First, make no assumptions." I can think of some assumptions that have cost me a sale or two. Assuming that I understood what the customer wanted has been the most expensive. The moment a customer mentioned something I knew a lot about, I would take over the conversation so that I could impress with my knowledge and expertise. I learnt a lot about 3D visualisation for one of my sales roles. All the customer had to say was, "3D" and 'BAM' I was off, jabbering away about the technologies and the benefits and how it would solve all their problems. Once I had the lead, it was easy to tell the customer what they should do. Is this a common experience – do you find yourself telling the customer what they need without taking the time to fully understand their needs? At the beginning of my sales career, in the late 1970s', I didn't suffer from this particular curse because I knew so little about the technology I was selling. It was primarily Intel microprocessors and memory chips. Without knowledge to speak from I had no option but to ask questions and hope they sounded intelligent. I had to get the customer to do the talking. This way I could relax and try to learn about the application of the components I had to sell. This accident of circumstances served me well. Customers seemed to sell themselves. Sometimes customer’s tells us what they want. Then we just blindly accept it and assume that they know what they truly need! Suppose they are wrong and neither of us find out until after our stuff has been delivered. The customer, upon recognising that the mistake was theirs, politely acknowledges the fact and absorbs the cost of repairing their mistake - in our dreams, perhaps. Of course the vender will be made the scapegoat and will scurry around spending all of the profit and then some, on trying to fix the unhappy customer's problem. The alternative is to let them be an unhappy customer and suffer the consequences. The other classic assumption that has cost me much money over the years is that we can’t get the answers! If we assume that we can't find out exactly what they need and how much they are willing to spend and how they are going to decide, we guess. John continued, "Second, it will be necessary for you to take the time and trouble to fully understand the situations that you find yourselves in. Third, you will have to make some difficult and uncomfortable decisions." When we guess, It is tempting and perhaps wise to hedge one's bets; to prepare a soft landing if something we have put our name to fails to happen. In sales, the things we are regularly expected to put our names to, are predictions. How much we will sell in a given time period, what we will sell, and how much we will sell it for. Sales jobs are easy to get and hard to do well. How may of you have working 'Crystal Balls'? Accurate predictions rest on the ability to obtain hard answers to difficult questions, questions that the customer often doesn't know the answers to. Later I'll share some ways to get those elusive answers. Now let's finish John's story. "Fourth," said John, "have the courage to act with boldness and conviction. In the Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi, the short animated character of Yoda says, "Do or do not do, there is no try". When I catch myself dithering, which of course none of you ever do, I repeat these words to myself. "Fifth, take advantage of your personal strengths. Apply them with the full force of your personality and vigour" said John. Lao Tzu, the Chinese Taoist philosopher thought to have lived around 600 BC wrote, “He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.” Knowing ones strengths and weaknesses is a widely recognised trait of successful people. I’ll spend some time talking about ways to identify or verify strengths and weaknesses before we finish today. "And finally" said John, "be willing to risk making mistakes." Borrowing from the material
of Gustuv Kaiser, "try to make a fool of yourself once a day"! What he meant, was
explained by my first sales trainer. We must be prepared to try new things and
risk failure - everyday. |
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