Why your friends always determine the level of your sales success
Whether and to what extent a strictly free market economy exists or is wholly desirable is an age-old debate, but clearly for a healthy and voluntary exchange of goods and services to occur, there must be robust sales and selling occuring with regularity. For many sales professionals in the current economic climate, “robust” doesn’t accurately describe their current sales situation.
The savvy salesperson is always looking for ways to hone their craft and to increase the quality and quantity of their sales. But one thing that is simple and easy to overlook or not really recognize as a super-important factor in determining the level of sales success is the company a salesperson keeps.
I stumbled upon an article (from a now-defunct blog) I’d written last year about this very thing where I referred to sales trainer and consultant Paul McCord’s brilliant commentary on his blog. His post of May 2008 was titled From Water Cooler to Pipeline, and in it he asserts that our level of success (or failure) is absolutely dependent on whether we are deliberate and conscious about the people with whom we associate and surround ourselves.
It’s probably a no-brainer to say that we all tend to gravitate toward those who are most like us. You’ve probably heard that before.
Duh, right?
I want to share with you some key points from Paul McCord that you can use right away to improve your sales success, but first I want to say that this whole idea of being influenced by others reminds me of an exercise Dr. Dov Baron introduces in some of his seminars called The Resonance of 5. The exercise has to do with finances and net worth, but the principle can be used in any area of life, whether it be relationships, political leanings, health and fitness, or some other facet.
What you do is take the five people with whom you spend the most time, take the sum of each of their annual incomes, and divide that sum by 5 to get the average. When you compare the average with your own annual income, in most cases it will be about the same.
Dov explains that this is analogous to water always finding it’s own level. We likewise always find our own level. In all cases, we necessarily rise or fall to the level of our peers.
This is what Paul McCord was getting at in his article. He explains that most new and average salespeople tend to hang around other new or average salespeople, while the top producers socialize with other top producers. They think, act, and speak differently and are naturally drawn to those who think, act and speak similarly.
What are the key differences between these groups?
“. . . when the new and average salespeople gather at the water cooler or go to lunch together . . . the majority of the time is spent complaining about how the company doesn’t do this or doesn’t do that; how the sales manager screwed this up or blew that; how bad things are with so much competition, pricing out of the market, late deliveries, products that don’t perform, and all the other excuses salespeople make for not selling.
Those conversations are a far cry from the conversations the top producers have when they go to lunch together. . . the majority of their conversation about business is on exchanging information that will help them sell. They want no part of the complaints and moaning and groaning. They won’t allow themselves the luxury of wallowing in misery because they know it only leads to failure—the attitudes and beliefs developed at the water cooler translate directly to the success or failure of the pipeline.”
The good news is that we can absolutely choose our peers with deliberate intent, rather than by default.
It’s not an especially easy road for a new or average salesperson to gain entry into the circle of the top producers. They are zealous about guarding their association — not because they’re a bunch of arrogant snobs — but because they know how easy it is to slip into negativity, which inevitably leads to average or poor performance…..something they are not willing to risk.
And neither should you…..even if it feels a bit unnatural and uncomfortable (and it will).
Paul’s advice?
“Keep in mind that the top producers can teach you how to become a top producer, whereas the other new and average salespeople can only teach you how to fail.”
So, don’t be discouraged. Press on. Pursue the relationships with those who are experiencing the kind of results you desire in sales or whatever area of your life you want to improve.
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By the way, in response to my article, Paul offered some other clarifying “bonus” nuggets that I’d like to share with you here:
“Tshombe,
Thank you for referring to my post.
You’re right, it is difficult and uncomfortable to resist the temptation to hang out with those in the same position you’re in. When we’re new or even if we’re experienced but producing at an average or so level, it seems more natural to hang out with people who face the same issues we face–and what do those big producers have in common with us anyway?
But those producers are doing what we should be doing. And if they’re doing the right things, then we want to be doing what they’re doing. On the other hand, the other folks at our level aren’t doing anything differently than we are–and they’re getting the same results we’re getting? What do they have to teach us?
If you want to be successful, hang out with successful agents, do what successful agents do, learn what successful agents know.
It isn’t comfortable and it is a hard group to break into. One way to break into it is to pick one of the absolute top agents that you really want to develop a relationship with and if you have to, volunteer to help them organize their files or put together their materials for their next mailing or whatever. No matter how many assistants they may have, they’re always needing more hands. Taking an interest in them will encourage them take an interest in you.”
Powerful stuff, wouldn’t you say?
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Flickr image by Snap®, under a Creative Commons license
