Working the Fields
The Sales & Counselor Selling Series
[Editor’s note: During past months we’ve covered aspects of the Probe, Present, Plan® process. Now, our focus shifts to putting it all together with Managing your Sales Practice and Building Relationships.]
“Your paddy is your life. If you dedicate yourself to the love, planting, fertilizing and cultivating of your acre you will ultimately harvest your livelihood!”
– Ban Komoda Roshi
Japanese Zen Master and Teacher
Is there a connection between the cultivation of a rice paddy and selling in a territory? We suggest, “Yes!”
Well, we’re not driving across the territory or having virtual meetings just to be “nice” or to enjoy a casual conversation. The point of a business meeting is not to “feel good.” Not that we have anything against friendly conversations or feeling good. But none of these outcomes will pay the bills or plant rice. The point of a business meeting is to obtain a desirable business result — for both parties, we hope. And to lay the groundwork for the next meeting.
Does rice spring from the ground because you’ve created good Karma? Sometimes. But mostly, there’s a lot of discipline involved. We suggest that good Karma and Discipline go hand in hand. Three kinds of discipline come to mind: Travel, Content, and Data…
Travel Discipline: The “Milk Run”
In earlier times, milk was transported overnight by truck from farm to dairy; and from dairy to town by railroad; and throughout the town by truck on the “Milk Run.” It was a regular, scheduled transport run with lots and lots of uneventful stops. Dropping off milk and picking up empty containers.
Wholesaling requires all the tactics and tools of the milk run — with one exception: the attitude. Milk run drivers could relax. If they completed their run before breakfast, all was well. But you can’t afford nonchalance. On your “milk run” in the territory, whether in-person or virtual, you’ve got to be razor sharp — every day, every appointment.
You’ve got to have an ironclad handle on your travel (or virtual system) and schedule to be in front of the most people every month. A facility for getting up, getting on the road or into your home office efficiently, and getting from point to point without friction is a hallmark of the real pros. More appointments? More production! But still, this is only first base. Run your road/home life so you can keep doing it comfortably for the long term… Think decades working the field.
Content Discipline: Modular Meetings
There’s no point in fighting your way across Iowa or finally getting a virtual meeting set up merely to pass the time. You’ve got to have a strategy and a message (or many) from which to tailor the appointment to the temperament, needs and circumstances of the guy (and his clients) in the other chair. Think of “Story Modules” as “Shipping Containers for Ideas.”
Many players (and firms) view a sales presentation as a movie, a play, or a novel — where the customer sits back and consumes while the sales pro delivers lines from “the script.” Wow! So last century… Too long to write, too long to memorize and too unwieldy to deliver while the listener rocks and wonders how long ’til he can escape.
Instead, get the idea of a multi-talented pro who checks-in, takes the pulse, listens to the challenges, suggests a professional connection, proposes a product/story to meet a need and books an interim follow up call to close a deal and book the next meeting. The content is modular, so it can be broken down, added to, or reduced and reassembled in a new way for each meeting.
Data Discipline: Paying Attention
Imagine leaving a meeting with particles of ephemeral Gold… These particles of warmth, agreement, understanding and commitment flow out of a good meeting but can elude your grasp and dissipate in the wind as you walk across the parking lot to your rental car or get up from your chair to take a break and enjoy the glow. They’re gold when they appear; and remain gold — until you fail to take great notes. Unless you notice each particle and take care to lock it down in the database, you won’t do the follow up, won’t deliver the requested information, the client conference won’t get scheduled, planned or conducted and the deal won’t get done.
All the money, time and effort of the company are focused on getting you in place for the meeting, prepared to take it any of sixteen different directions, with the intention of capitalizing on any positive response. Don’t blow it in the parking lot or your home office afterward by thinking first about coffee, Mickey D’s or the next appointment. Nail this one. Take great notes and keep the process moving. Next? Eat and Repeat.
Want a successful life? It won’t materialize just because you’re nice. Show some discipline, work your territory, and harvest a livelihood!
Applications
1. Personally
Cultivate the work habits and the discipline which will result in a more effective personal life, family life and professional life. It all starts with you — the individual.
2. At Home
Teach your children well – set a good example by maintaining the tools, keeping up the car, cleaning out the downspout – all the things that keep your home productive.
3. At Work
Many hands contribute to a successful harvest. The sooner you can engage all those hands in servicing the clients in your acre (by entering valuable information into the CRM system), the sooner you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.
If you work your field with true discipline, no one will go to bed hungry.
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