I had a salesperson who I just couldn’t get to work with more customers. Because she was new, I would repeatedly emphasize to her to work with more customers. When they would come in, though, she’d usually fall back and let another salesperson catch them. I couldn’t figure it out. She knew her product, she was technically sound and, because she came from another male-dominated industry, she was used to competing against the boys. So what was it?
When asked, she responded, “Marsh, I don’t have a huge need. The other salespeople around me have to struggle to make a sale in order to pay rent and car notes. I don’t have a huge need, so I don’t need to make much.”
Leaning back, I asked her, “So what’s your end game?” She told me that she planned on being in the car business a long time. “Then if that’s the case,” I told her, “you’re not doing yourself much good.” Here was my reasoning:
First, you can’t teach what you don’t know, and you’ll never know until you first do. In his biography, Arnold Schwarzenegger said the three keys to him becoming a seven-time Mr. Olympia, a successful businessman, governor of California and one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood at the time were “reps, reps, reps.”
Reps weatherproof your career. You’ve got to work with hundreds of experiences, objections, scenarios and obstacles while maneuvering through thousands of rejections not just so that you can learn, but so you can pay it forward and help others succeed who are starting out, as well. Reps also give your customers the needed assurances that you can help them with their current situation because you’ve helped other customers maneuver through similar circumstances.
“This brings me to my second point,” I told her. “When you’re not working with enough customers, not only do you not possess enough of the necessary skills they both desire and deserve, but it means that you’re OK with them buying from an inferior salesperson. If you say that you’re here to help customers, then you’ve got to follow through with actions to back up those words.”
This brought me to my third point, where I asked her “Do you have kids?” She told me that she had a boy and a girl, Mason and Madison. “Do you want them to do well in life?” I asked, and of course, she said she did. “If you want them to do well, then be their teacher — set the example, because they can’t be what they don’t see. The reason why so many struggle as adults today is because no one played the part, no one showed them the pattern, no one chalked the outline nor showed them what they could be because no one helped them see. No one showed them more, so they’ve accepted less.”
You must do well. You must reach beyond your comfort zone. You must dig deep and get back up. You must set audacious goals and kick the door in when Life tries to slam it in your face. You must reach higher because this isn’t just about you.
It’s way bigger than that.
But first, you’ve got to set the bar.
I’ll see you on the Blacktop.
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