Sales Mercenaries

In his all-time classic book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill tells the story of  R. U. Harby.  Harby’s uncle had gold fever, so he staked his claim and started digging.  After a lot of hard work, the uncle found a vein of ore, so he covered up his find and returned home to raise the money for the machinery that he would need to bring the ore to the surface.  They raised the money and Darby travelled with his uncle back to the site to make their fortune.

Things started well and before long, they had enough to clear their debts.  They were excited, everything from here on would be profit and things were looking good. Then the supply of gold stopped.  The vein of ore had disappeared.

They kept on digging, but found nothing. After a while, they quit in frustration and sold their machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars.

After they went home in disappointment, the astute junk man called in a mining engineer who checked the mine and calculated that there was a vein of gold just three feet from where Darby and his uncle had stopped digging.

The junk man went on to make millions from the mine.

BUT HERE IS THE GOOD PART!

Darby returned home, paid back everyone who had lent him money and was determined to learn from his mistake in giving up too soon. He went on to become a phenomenally successful insurance salesman, more than recouping what he would have made from the gold mine. He learned the lesson that you need to persevere through difficulties and stay focused if you are to become successful.

Learn from every lesson, every mistake. Learn from other’s mistakes as often as possible, but Never, Never, Never, Never give up, as Mr Churchill said.

“Some people get an education without going to college. The rest get it after they get out.” ~ Mark Twain

That is a funny statement, but it really is almost true. I wish I had gone to University, sometimes, instead of going into the US Navy. But I remind myself that I probably was in a better place to learn the things I needed to learn there instead of the ivory halls of academia. In the future I may end up in a classroom to learn some special skills that I might want to either know for the sake of knowing or that will increase my value in the marketplace and therefore get me paid more (because that’s how it really works) a la Jim Rohn, who said, “We don’t get paid by the hour, we really get paid for the VALUE that we bring to the hour.” and, “If you want to be paid more, bring more value!”

But I might not need to walk onto campus again in my life. Here’s why:

College might not pay off, for one thing. Here’s a video my friend High Benjamin posted on Facebook by John Stossel that explains that idea in full.

And for another thing, I can save sooooo much time by the following method

1) Identify what I need to know next and why

2) Get a book from http://www.allbookstores.com about it sent to my home or from the internet or from the used bookstore or from a new bookstore or from borrowing from a friend or the library (there is no excuse for not getting the book).

3) Thinking about what I learned.

4) Observing some humans and what they do/know about it. Google it.

5) Ask more questions from the right people.

6) Talk about it with my advisers and mentors.

Michael Norton, former president of Ziglar Inc., was the guest expert in the BizBuzz and he talked about the value of Self-Directed Study. Click Here: http://bizbuildersusa.org/ but if it is not on the home page by the time you click it, try here: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs049/1101880297162/archive/1104191883519.html

LEARNERS ARE EARNERS! Take charge of your education, or someone else will (they have in the past, they’ll keep it up if you let ‘em).

Comment on this! Tips, recommendations, resources. C’mon, we’re all in this together.

I uploaded this as a tribute to Veterans, and to make the non-vets aware of the courage, the spirit and the willingness to serve that the US soldiers, Sailors, Airman and Marines enter into when they enlist. The Enlistment Oath is the one that you hear and see in the movies and on TV, but this is the one that prepares a serviceman to carry out the oath in practice. The oath Follows as a comment below.

1. I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.

2. I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender my men while they still have the means to resist.

3. If I am captured, I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.

4. If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information, or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.

5. When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am bound to give only name, rank, service number and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.

6. I will never forget that I am an American fighting man, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

Note:

(Prior to the Vietnam Conflict, violation of any of the above code elements could result in trial by Courts Martial. After learning of the atrocities inflicted on our personnel held prisoner in that action, it was determined that requiring strict compliance to such a demanding code was not always possible. It should stand as a guide to personal conduct but enforcement as a point of law is questionable.)

As salespeople, we need every advantage we can get. Not over the customer, but against the environment and the mental challenges that we face every day we join the business fray. Arnold Palmer used to say that the hardest course to master is only 6 inches: the space between our ears.

Napoleon Hill and many others prescribe affirmations as a way to use the amazing power of the subconscious mind to enhance our abilities, recognize more opportunities and to put up a defense of mental toughness that makes us impervious to rejection and attracts more prosperity.

Here is a Sales Affirmation that has been prescribed by a very productive friend/client of mine that I think is spot-on. Read it multiple times per day, for when these things become reality, you will be and have all that it says.

I am a great sales person

People like me and they enjoy buying from me

God has gifted me with the talent to communicate and inspire

I am a great sales person.

When people tell me “no” I hear “I need to understand the value more, before I say yes.”

I love people and people love me.

People love working with me because I genuinely strive to serve and help them.

Helping others, satisfies me

Closing deals excites me.

Everyone is a possible sale.

Knowing that others are counting on me, motivates me

I perform well under pressure because I am a gamer

When I am having a slow day, I am more motivated than ever to make my next sale.

Every day is a new day and a great day

Every day I get better

I love sales

People like me and they enjoy buying from me

Because I am a great sales person

Of course, if you just can’t embrace this, you are not cut out for sales. You need to call in the experts. You know what to do: CLICK HERE

During the Meet Your Ultimate Sales Force Event last fall I recited Rudyard Kipling’s uber-powerful poem, “IF.” So many people are still contacting me and asking what that was, so here it is in it’s entirety. This is what I call “Dwell Literature,” meaning that it get’s stronger the more you read it, think/meditate on it, apply it and live it. Let it change your life…

IF
By Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

What other Dwell Literature can you recommend?

According to Napolean Hill, a mastermind group is essential to success. Word of mouth advertising is the undisputed champion of the most effective methods of getting good business. Many organizations don’t have the old weekly sales meetings, and many reps are not being held accountable and or encouraged enough every week. Solopreneurs can suffer from isolation that robs them of their motivation.

A Business Networking Group can be the cure for all those ailments. Some benefits to a functional, effective Networking Group can be referrals passed to you, business skills that you can pick up from presentations and discussions held, camaraderie and encouragement on a regular basis, and a chance to build yourself a sales force by having 5 – 25 other people from your group out remembering you in conversations and passing out your business cards. Promoting one another’s services and products, and becoming customers of each other can take your business to the next level.

To date, there really are just 2 main courses of action if you want to be in a business networking group; Find one that exists and join it, or start your own. For many industries, starting your own is the way to go because your industry seat may already be taken. Even if there were an organization that had groups in your area, chances are something would not work for you: the dues they demand might be too expensive, they might have a philosophy that does not jibe with yours. Maybe the group has dilapidated to a social meeting. Maybe the group is too punitive, or militant. Maybe it is just plain corny. Here’s a couple of things that you might consider if you want to get into a structured weekly networking environment.

The first option is to locate all the groups in your area and see if there is a spot you can fill. I recommend that you do this because you will make a lot of contacts and you just might hit it it off with some people that can really inspire and equip you to do great things. Also, you might just find the perfect match for you; a meeting at the right time, the right distance from your home or place of business, that meshes with your business philosophy and a method that you will enjoy being a part of.

The second course of action is to start one of your own. Benefits: You name the time and place, you direct and lead or at least choose the person that you want to lead the group the way you would like to have it go. You will make more contacts by starting it yourself and you will have a higher visibility (read, more referrals). The con: How to go about it? There is a lot to a networking group, especially starting one, and a lot of it is counter-intuitive. That is, things that would seem to make sense end up destroying a group, and some things you think don’t matter do, and the things a group needs to have just aren’t apparent. So what you need is help.

The answer? Over the last 5 years, the folks at BizBuilders Networking Groups (yes, one of my companies) have developed the 1st Do-It-Yourself Networking Group Start-up and Maintenance Curriculum that gives you all the information and tools that you need – all the forms, the methodology and structure, including web-presence – that you need to get a group started, all at about 10% of the cost to the members to join as joining one of the big dues-collecting organizations.

Here’s how it works: You buy the curriculum, which comes in various sets, and you do the work to get the group together. It is all laid out for you. Each member just purchases their own supplies, or the group can share, whatever, and they each sign up to be listed as a member on the local chapter web-page, which is supplied with the Chapter Start Up Kit. If your chapter, or you, want to collect some dues (which is a good idea because there should be a financial commitment on the part of the members), that’s okay. It stays with you or your chapter. You can use it for whatever you or your chapter feels is most important. If you want to have a group that has no dues, then that’s fine, too.

Here’s why it makes sense: In reality the person that starts the group and leads the group does all the work anyway. Why not spend just a couple hundred dollars and have a whole chapter up and running with each member spending a little bit to be listed on the website and buying their own supplies for a few dollars instead of sending THOUSANDS as a group off to the “National HQ” for “support” that they rarely really deliver?

Why this is the time: I just rolled out the website and the opportunity to get the curriculum this morning. Right now, I am offering the Chapter page set up as part of the package price, and the members listing is only 7 bucks a month. More importantly, it takes time to build a real network, so every week that goes by is vitally important. Getting started is sometimes the hardest part, but it is the part that truly successful people do to differentiate themselves from the herd. Your future is determined by how soon you start and how well you do on everything. Getting started on your networking group and meeting like-minded professionals and passing referrals back and forth is best done immediately.

So let me know all your questions. This really makes sense for every sales and business pro in the world. I would love to have you comments and questions so I can refine and improve on what we have to offer. Whadya think?

Here is a list of Headlines that I want to eventually write about in the coming months. I think that these things will help you in your business , especially when you are with your customers. As I was walking my dog this morning, I thought about some of the things that I could write about, but instead of just making a list elsewhere, I thought it would be prudent to post the list and take recommendations from the readers (if there are any) about which topic they would like to know about first. And then next.

So here is a partial list. I will come back and add more as they come to mind or come to bear in relevance.

The Difference between Sales and Marketing

The Sales Mercenary Attitude

5 of the 1000 Secrets of the Sales Mercenary

My Book List, Your Sales Training Course, and how an off-hand comment can change the course of a life.

Corporate Training that Works. How and Why.

Learners Are Earners

Comment on what you would like to see first and then next. Of course comment on the rest of the articles here, as well. If you have questions, this is a good place to get answers.

Sales is about the money, right? How else do we measure whether we are succeeding or not? Isn’t it the ultimate level playing field here in the US of A and in capitalist countries around this big, blue marble? Yes, it is… but there is more. There is living and making a living. Doing well, and doing good. All this is important to the complete professional, the complete person.

This last week from a sales perspective, it could be argued that we had less than desirable sales results. We actually produced about 50% of what I was expecting we would produce. I knew it would be a hard situation going in, but it was harder than I imagined or prepared for. The biggest disappointment is something that I could not control: People just didn’t show up for their appointments. Beyond that, there were people that should never have had appointments with us. So the days drug wearily on, presentation after presentation. The sales merc team was unable get above the average production line. Staying under, even, by a fairly large measure, a rookie sales professional would have foundered and gone under mentally, and thereafter the physical manifestation of that dismay and confidence loss would have resulted in even less sales. As it was, we didn’t miss any sales that were possible, and giving up and losing sales would have tanked the whole week. So what did we do?

We hit the beach and went swimming at midnight! We put aside work after the second day, and went out to a great restaurant, told stories, met new people and laughed our heads off together. Our spirits soared as we jumped the waves of the warm Florida coast Atlantic. We reviewed the horror stories of the previous days and got it out of us and off of us. We stayed out late, but not too late and created memories that make the whole thing worth it, regardless of the financial outcome.

Sales professionals, take notice: It is about the money, but you can get more money by renewing your mind and your body and living the lifestyle today that you are hoping to achieve later. By shelving business for a few hours, we made the trip worth it personally, no matter the sales volume. By doing so, we actually ensured that we would NOT lose sales, and that we would capture every opportunity and turn it into revenues because we were sharp, of good cheer, satisfied with life and not desperate, depressed or despondent.

I am dedicated to be the best salesman I can be, but also to Enjoy the Adventure. They both feed the other, don’t they? Of course they do.

Share with the Sales Pro world your de-stress and amp-up activities here. Just hit comment and let me know what you do to get and stay fired up. Because in the words of Jim Rohn, “Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know. ”
Jim Rohn
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Here are some of my fav’s that I was thinking about today:

1) Glenngary Glen Ross

2) Used Cars

3) Boiler Room

4) Cadillac Man

5) Tin Men

6) Jerry MacGuire

I know that there should be a caveat by every single one of them, and this isn’t necessarily the best to worst order  would put them in, but I’m sure you could help me on that. Also, what did I leave off?

What’s the difference between 1st and 2nd place in racing? In horses, it could be just a nose. In NASCAR, and we just saw it in the Winter Olympics, the difference is often thousandths of a second. Isn’t that amazing? What does this mean to us as sales professionals?

It could mean that we need to be  only slightly better than the next guy. Or the previous guy. Maybe we have to wake up a little earlier, stay a little longer. Maybe make that one more call. Maybe we get a little more uncomfortable than the next guy. Or gal. You can get a great book called The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson from www.Bizmigo.com and read about being just a little better, learning a little more every day. Improving and achieving slightly more every try. That is a good idea. I have read that book twice, but it is time to put it in the bathroom again.

One thing is for sure: we need to train. Train each other. Train ourselves. Investigate, inquire, try try again. Get your team together and go over something, even it is just to keep yourself sharp and accountable.

And then? And then APPLY the knowledge and the skills. Get in the mix. Pick up the phone, set that appointment. Show up and show up prepared, looking good and thinking straight. A crystal gaze and clear conscience, ready to serve and ready to close.

Train. Tune up your racing machine every few laps. Attain that slight edge. Let it compound over time and see massive results!