فصل 4

CHAPTER FOUR

THE GREATS

COMMITMENT

So how do you become one of the greats in your field, one of the masters? The very first step, and the most important one, is to commit all the way!

Commit: To devote oneself completely to something.

This inescapable truth is that to be truly great at anything, you must devote yourself completely. If you are a career salesperson, you have to devote yourself, your energy, and your resources to a career in selling. If you aren’t a career salesperson, you’d better get it to your core that your success still depends on this skill, and then you’d better learn it. You have to convince yourself that this is the thing you have to learn in order to get your way in life and that this is where you are going to make your riches.

How does a person commit?

What I do is eliminate any and all other options and devote myself to learning everything I can about the topic. I become a fanatic, 100 percent absorbed, all in, a Super Freak! I stop questioning and get in all the way. Furthermore, I discontinue looking at other options.

Committing is as simple as picking a place to park your car. Find a spot, pull in, and get out of the car. You don’t keep looking for another space in which to park. COMMIT AND BE DONE WITH IT. Committing is when you make a firm decision, you quit wondering, and then you follow through on your commitment with actions.

Once you’ve fully committed to a partner in life, it’s good advice to quit looking for new partners. You take what you have and make everything you can out of it. Can you find someone prettier, smarter, and happier? Probably, but that’s not committing. Committing means you are in all the way, you are done looking, and you make the person you have committed to the prettiest, the smartest, and the happiest. I would rather commit to the wrong thing all the way than commit to the right thing only halfway.

Commit and be done with it!

GREENER PASTURES

The guy who thinks the grass is greener “over there” is the same guy who never commits to taking care of the pasture he already has. He winds up mediocre and miserable. What was he even doing looking at another pasture in the first place? He already has one that needs to be mowed. Remember, while there may be greener pastures, they’re green because someone committed. Weeds grow in every field, and if you don’t commit to it all the way, you’ll neglect it. When you neglect it, you’ll start to dislike it, and then you’ll start peering over the neighbor’s fence and thinking that what he has is better. It’s only better because he committed. So commit to your career, commit to learning about selling, commit to your product, service, and employees. Commit to learning everything you can and watch how much green your career will produce for you.

Whenever I commit myself to any line of action, I get immediate results. When I’m not committed all the way, I find that results are delayed or nonexistent. If I’m committed 100 percent to the customer before me, I get results. But when I’m with one customer and thinking about another customer or wishing I had a better customer, I’m unable to make the best of what I have. Commit and commit all the way.

When I give seminars I often wear a small gold pin on the lapel of my jacket that says “100%.” A salesperson asked me if I wore it for my customers to see. I explained that while customers do see it and are intrigued by it, I don’t wear it for them. I wear it for myself. I wear it to remind myself to commit all the way. I don’t get dressed for my customers; I get dressed for myself so that I feel good, so that I’m dressed professionally. I wear that pin to remind myself that I’m 100 percent committed.

Commitment is a personal thing, and it’s the indisputable requirement for getting results in life and separating yourself from the herds. At the age of twenty-five, I had been in and out of sales for five years or so and I realized that I was still looking for another career. No commitment equals no results. I had not made a commitment to sales yet, and I was not proud of my position or the work I was doing. How could I be? I was only average at best. I was average because I was not committed. Because I was not committed, I was not getting results. Because I was not getting results, I did not like my job—it was all a vicious cycle.

To the degree that you aren’t proud of the job you’re doing, you won’t be successful; and the degree to which you are successful will determine how proud you are of your career. The career you are in is not the problem—your commitment is the problem!

I decided one day (after years of being mediocre) that sales was not the problem—I was. At that moment I devoted myself to learning everything there was to know about sales. My goal was to stand head and shoulders above others in my field and to no longer be compared with them. I decided to become a professional and be different than the “typical” average, mediocre salesperson. That was the moment when everything changed for me, and it changed immediately and magically. Right away my energy changed, my dress changed, my actions and habits started changing, my language changed, and my results changed. Immediately, my pastures became green and my potential exploded. It was almost spiritual! No, it was spiritual. It was so dramatic—and that is the magic of commitment.

If you want to be successful at anything you have to commit. You’ve got to be in it 100 percent with no other fish to fry. A “burn the ship” kind of mentality is what it takes to get you to a place where you’ll do things that will ensure results. Get into the game as though your life depended on it, because your life does depend on it. The life that you’ve been dreaming of depends on you getting in all the way now. This is how I approach anything when I really want results. This is how I approached the career of selling, and the moment I did that, my life changed.

I’ll never forget the first time I experienced the magic and power of commitment. One summer I was working on an offshore crew boat that serviced oil rigs. We were off the coast of Louisiana, and we used to sit around waiting for the rigs to call on us. When we weren’t actually working, we’d spend our time fishing off the side of the boat. On one particularly lucky day, we reeled in hundreds of red snappers. As we packed them in what little ice we had on board, I listened to the other crew members, who were planning to take their share of the fish home to eat.

For some crazy reason, I offered to buy up everyone’s fish with the idea that I’d go out and sell them. At the time I’d never sold anything and I didn’t know anything about fish sales. I didn’t even know to whom I was going to sell them. All I knew was that my gut instinct was telling me that someone would want to buy those beautiful fresh red snappers.

With hundreds of snappers piled in the back of my truck, I realized that I needed to create a market, find some customers, and figure out how to convince them to buy my fish. I had to think fast because the ice on the fish was melting, and I was going to lose my paycheck and my inventory if I didn’t move the product right away. As I thought about where I might find customers, I remembered how the Bible salesmen used to come knocking on the door of our home and how committed those guys were. It was getting late, and I decided that if the door-to-door approach was good enough for the Bible salesmen, it was good enough for me. As the ice continued to melt, I blasted through neighborhood after neighborhood announcing that I had fresh fish. Knocking on doors, I rapidly explained that these fish had been caught in the Gulf that very morning and they were the best that money could buy. After I’d covered the houses in the area, I went to businesses, where I found more prospects and sold the rest of the fish. And I did it all before the last of the ice was gone. I learned about the value of commitment that day. I had a fanatical, have-to-get-it-done-and-no-other-options level of commitment!

Commitment = Results = Happiness

I made more money selling fish in a few hours than I had made doing hard labor for two whole weeks, and it all came after I had made the commitment to sell those fish. I had put myself in a position where I did not have any choice. I had to sell them or lose them. It was a do-or-die situation. After that experience I was “hooked” on sales, but I did not become a professional for seven more years.

The first thing you have to do is to commit yourself to selling as something that is vital to your life regardless of your career (but especially if you are in sales). Commit right now and watch what happens. Commitment is like magic, and nothing great will happen until the commitment is there! Most people do not attack their projects with “I-have-to-get-it-done-now” urgency and therefore they do not get it done. Most people never commit like fanatics, and therefore they never become fantastic.

THE POWER OF PREDICTION

The moment I transitioned from an amateur to a professional (following my decision to commit and become dedicated to my career), I began studying the whole area of selling. I started taking notes on every exchange I had with my customers. I even recorded these experiences on audio and video. I would later study the material like a football team reviews playbacks of games. I didn’t know it then, but that was how I gained the ability to predict.

To predict is to know what’s going to happen next. I stumbled across this skill and found myself gaining the ability to accurately predict the outcomes of situations before they happened. I started to know exactly what I had to do every day to create a certain amount of income. I was gaining the ability to predict exactly how many people I had to get in front of in order to sell a certain amount. I then discovered I was increasingly sure of what to say and how the prospect would react to what I said. I was able to predict objections and handle them before they even surfaced. It was as if things had gone into slow motion and I knew what every player on the field was doing and would do in the moments to come. The ability to predict is the first thing that happens when you become a professional, and when I reached this level of ability, I knew I was on my way to great success.

Prediction is the great unknown—and very often unrecognized—asset of the professional. I’ve never heard it spoken about, but I know it exists. If you’ve ever read about any of the great athletes, they talk about this same phenomenon whereby they are able to know what’s going to take place before it even happens. Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan have both noted the experience of being able to predict where the play would move to and how it would turn out.

Years ago, I was selling a product to multimillionaires and quickly discovered that I had only a very short time in which to make my presentation to them, as time was of great concern to these people. In fact, time was more valuable to them than money. With one prospect, I knew exactly what his objection would be when I got him on the phone: “I’ll give you sixty seconds, son.” Having predicted correctly, I handled him without having to think about what to say or do. Because I had studied prospects like him and had formulated and prepared solutions, I was able to be responsible for the exchange and get results. This prospect, who started out difficult, became one of the best clients I have ever had and later launched my career in sales training.

How does one gain the skill of prediction? You have to start looking at everything that’s happening, observe it accurately without emotion or blame, and make a note of it. The ability to predict comes from assuming responsibility for what’s going on around you and believing you can control it. You have to pay complete attention to and record encounters; then you’ll start to see a finite set of patterns.

When I started recording my phone calls and making notes of every exchange I had with customers, I immediately tapped into my ability to perceive patterns, and then I started being able to predict. It was so easy and so fast. I carried around an “objections” notebook and wrote down every customer objection. Later I would study my notes and start to see that most of my customers were making similar comments. My awareness was raised and I was able to come up with solutions. It was amazing how fast I became aware of what was going on. One customer would tell me something and I’d write it down. The next customer would say the same thing and I’d write that down, too. When I began observing and taking responsibility for what was happening to me, I was able to predict what the prospect would say. More important, I was prepared to handle him. I had control because I knew. To know is critical to success, as knowledge equals power in life. To know means you end up with fewer noes. Fewer noes means a better life!

My production almost doubled from the simple action of observing. My confidence soared as my knowledge increased, and so did my income. Prediction! I could see the future, not because I was a psychic, but because I’d observed the past accurately. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I realize now that the ability to predict is one of the first benefits received from committing all the way. I had become responsible, aware, alert, and solution-oriented, and was able to predict! Until you become a dedicated student, you cannot gain the skill of prediction. All masters (in any career) are able to predict accurately.

Once you get some sense of possible situations that can occur, start taking notes and record everything you can. Record yourself on video so you can watch yourself. I started looking at what I said, my facial expressions, my responses, my tone, my voice, my gestures, and wow, there was so much to learn. I became addicted to knowing all that I could! To predict is to know, and to know is to handle situations correctly. This will increase confidence and increase sales. To sell successfully is to enjoy your job, which means you will continue to expand with more sales. Winning begets winning.

THE ONLY REASON YOU WON’T LIKE SELLING

(AS A CAREER OR IN LIFE)

Do you want to know the only true reason someone doesn’t or wouldn’t enjoy selling? There is only one real reason—and it is not what you’ve been told. It’s not because someone doesn’t like rejection. After all, who does? It’s not because they’re lazy. Everyone is lazy when they fail, and most people are trying to avoid failure. It’s not because they don’t like people. We all like people when we’re successful with them.

The only reason a person doesn’t like what he’s doing is because he doesn’t know what he’s doing! He isn’t winning, and that’s because there’s something that he doesn’t know. The doctor who can’t save lives won’t like being a doctor. The teacher who can’t get her students to learn will sooner or later become disenchanted with teaching. A salesman who can’t close deals won’t like selling. Therein lies the only reason you would not like being a salesperson. When you don’t understand something, you aren’t in control, and when you aren’t in control, you aren’t going to like what you are doing!

I met a guy named Scott Morgan back in 1995, and we were considering a new business partnership. I was giving a presentation in Vancouver and suggested that he come up for the weekend to talk about our new arrangement and get in a little skiing. Scott had never skied before, so I suggested that he take a beginner class. He arrogantly puffed out his chest and decided that a beginner class was beneath him. The next morning the two of us were at the top of Mount Whistler, one of the steepest mountains in North America. Scott looked down and then at me, and we both knew he was in big trouble. He knew nothing about skiing, let alone how he was supposed to get down the mountain. While I admired his courage, I observed that he didn’t understand the value of training. Scott spent the entire day making his way down that mountain, and to my knowledge, he never put on a pair of skis again.

When he finally made it to the bottom, I suggested that we start a training company so that salespeople would never have to experience in their careers what he had had to experience on that mountain. Scott and I have been business partners for many years now. He’s one of the most persistent people I know and has made a full-time commitment to help others through training so they can successfully take their careers to the mountaintops.

TO QUALIFY AS GREAT!

All greats are able to predict the outcome of any given situation, and great salespeople are able to determine and predict their own income. If you are unable to effectively and consistently increase your income as a salesperson, you are not a professional, and there is something that you don’t know and aren’t able to predict. It seems like it would be fairly important to be able to predict the objections and stalls that your prospects will give you; if you can’t, it means you are not truly a professional, and it will show up in lost sales.

Regardless of how long you have been doing this, if you’re losing more than you’re winning, then you need to realize that you’re an amateur and it’s time to kick up your commitment a notch and become someone who knows what he’s doing! You say, “Man, you’re being harsh on me! I’m just going through a cold spell right now.” Wrong! You’re making excuses; the reality is that your cold spell is due to your own lack of understanding of your profession. You’ve been sliding by on amateur skills, and those skills are showing up in your results. Anyone can sell when everyone is buying the product, but when there’s competition and the economy tightens, the amateurs start crying and the professionals continue to prosper. The major difference is that the professional is committed and knows what he’s doing, while the amateur is not committed and does not know.

A boxer is considered a professional boxer if he’s paid. But if he loses every match, people won’t continue to pay to see him fight, and he’ll return to amateur status. He’ll be knocked down to his true rank. Most businesspeople are being knocked down by the economy due to their ranking—their lack of commitment and not knowing how to sell.

In my opinion, you don’t have to be able to predict what you have to do to raise your income. You are a professional when you can predict results and get them. If you know your game, you don’t have to rely on luck—instead, you can achieve consistent success and can compete with others at the top. Pay just happens to be the reward given to those who reach the top.

There are many professional mothers who aren’t paid for raising their children. On the other side of the coin, just because a woman is a mother doesn’t mean she’s a professional mother. There are mothers out there that you wouldn’t hire to babysit your own kids.

Just because you cook doesn’t mean you’re a Cordon Bleu chef, but you can be a professional even though you’re not paid for it. My sister is a professional cook, not because she earns a living doing it, but because she knows what she is doing, she knows the kitchen, knows her appliances, knows her timing, and knows her recipes. It’s not just the preparation of the meal and the fact that the food tastes good. Hell, I can duplicate her recipes, but the amount of mess I create compared to the amount she creates, the time I take, and the effort I use isn’t even close. I’m an amateur cook, and she’s a professional. She has the ability to predict all that goes into preparing a meal and I don’t. This ability comes from committing to being aware and observing the scene completely.

Just as there are lots of cooks and mothers, there are also lots of so-called salespeople. But just because someone is engaged in the business of selling doesn’t make that person a professional.

If you’re a professional golfer it means that you’ve qualified by playing in tournaments against others and have qualified based on your abilities to produce results. And just because you’re a professional doesn’t make you a great.

To become one of the greats, you have to practice, not just play. To become a great golfer, for example, you have to commit every fiber of your being to the game and still know there’s more to learn. Do you see the difference?

Most salespeople are amateurs, some of them are professionals, and only a few are greats. Ultimately, it comes down to the level of commitment and dedication you have. The greats can predict, a skill that comes from committing, observing, and preparing solutions. To the degree that you can predict, you can respond appropriately. Prediction is the great trait of the great salespeople.

The more you’re able to predict with accuracy, the more you’ll be prepared to handle situations. It’s like driving: If you know what the other drivers are going to do, you can avoid accidents. It’s not just about driving your own car. You’ve got to be able to predict what other drivers will do. Using the tool of observation will help you learn how to do this.

Can you remember a time when you knew nothing about your job, but you still got it done? It wasn’t consistent, your income went up and down, but you still made it happen. You made a sale but didn’t really know why. You missed a sale and you were mystified for days. Can you remember a time when you used sheer persuasion, even begging or pleading, and the buyer felt sorry for you and you made the sale? Leave that for the amateur and the underpaid professionals and start observing now so you can predict!

Observation is the only way you’ll acquire a strategic understanding of the sales process, and it’s the only way to develop your prediction abilities and become one of the greats.

Remember, no matter what your job or role is in life, you need the ability to predict. You’re either getting your way in life or you’re not. Even if you’re not a salesperson per se, start observing where you are not getting your way and start taking notes.

Those who understand selling will get their way in life and those who don’t, won’t! Are you ready to become a great? Are you prepared to pay the price and do the work? If you are, I assure you that it will change your life dramatically, quickly, and forever!