Success is a Journey

Having been in sales management and a youth baseball coach for many years, I have noticed several similarities between the two. Specifically, there is a certain path that business and players follow that leads to success or failure. As a reference point, imagine the youth player as the new business and the parents as the owner of that business. Don't get upset, I am not saying youth sports is a business; just follow along for a few minutes.

When the player/business first starts out, the parents/owners have dreams but they do not know the full potential of those dreams yet. In the beginning there are signs that things are good; sales are moving along, the player is enjoying baseball, employees are happy and the player is good. As good parents and business owners, we are active daily trying to develop and grow our dreams. The parent practices with the player and encourages him to listen to the coach and keep working. The business owner is active with customers and takes an active role training employees and instilling his vision. With each passing week the player and the business grow stronger and new milestones are reached. The player makes his first All-Star team and the business has a record year and edges out a competitor in overall sales.

Encouraged by the progress, some parents and business owners start to invest in their player/business. Additional training, better equipment and more encouragement and engagement in the progress. Yet there are others who are either content with the progress or just think that they have reached their peak. So they stop getting outside help, they stop training, a few less days in the store and a few more on the golf course. Things are seemingly still good, but the competition is getting stronger; training harder and looking for ways to improve.

The competitor down the street has a good month and we pass it off as a fluke; another player on the team has a better average and they just got lucky. The blinders are on and we can't look in the mirror and reflect on what is wrong; or worse we refuse to look in the mirror and instead blame it on outside factors; EXCUSES! Before we know it the other player is now the starting 3rd baseman and the competitor is beating us on a regular basis.

Tim Tebow, the NFL quarterback, says it best in his quote "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard". Stop and think about that statement and ask your self the question, have I stopped working hard? Have you relished in your accomplishments so long that the competition has caught up? We have heard it a thousand times, Success is a journey not a destination. We are either moving forward or moving backward; in life and in sports there is no such thing as sitting still. You may not be moving but your competition is!

Social or Selling

Social networks are what their name implies; places to be social. Imagine you just walked into a party with a group of 100 of your friends and acquaintances and the first thing you do is yell out to the room "I sell life insurance, who wants to buy some!". Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?

It is 2012 and I am still amazed at how many people and business that are doing just that on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and all of the other social networks. Let's go back to the party and see what normally happens at a social event.

Again imagine you just walked into a room of 100 friends and acquaintances; what is the first thing you do? You see the first person as you walk in and say hello, swap pleasantries and then talk about what has been going on in your life. You ask questions of the other person to build on the conversation and show interest in their lives. The normal course of conversation will be about what has been happening outside of work first and at some point you will wind up talking about business and how things are at work.

Is this what is going on in your business' social marketing? Oops, I think I just mentioned the word that confuses people into shouting across the room, to the entire crowd, what they do for a living. Marketing, we have all done it for years, we advertise our wares anywhere we can. But wait, isn't that what I am supposed to do is let people know what I do and what I can do for them? Yes it is, but just like our conversation above, there is a time for that. Imagine you are back at the party (by the way, what kind of drink do you have in your hand).

This time you are already at the party socializing with your friends and in walks that guy. As he walks in the room he yells to the crowd "My name is Jim and I sell cars, who wants to buy one!". Imagine how quiet and uncomfortable the room feels right now. Now imagine he is making a bee line right for you. You look around feverishly to find someone to talk to, someone to protect you from "that guy". Maybe you turn your back to him and make a bee line yourself for the hours d'oeuvre tray. Uncomfortable isn't it.

Are you making your "friends/followers" uncomfortable at the party? There is a time to talk business at the party and even a time to pass out a business card, just like there is a time to do the same on your social networks. The right mix is important, too much selling and you get tuned out and avoided.

Don't be THAT guy at the party!


P.S.: Earlier I asked you what kind of drink you had in your hand when you imagined yourself at the party. Leave me a comment and let me know and in the next post we will talk about the most powerful word in sales.

Working Backwards

Steven R. Covey taught us to think with the end in mind. Decide what it is you want to accomplish and work backward from that point. This means that we must have a dead line for our goals. So many of us decide we want to accomplish something but we never give ourselves a time frame in which to complete the task.

After 17 years in the Automotive Sales business, I am used to deadlines; they come at the end of every month, at the end of each quarter and the end of each year. However, it is best that we breakdown those deadlines into shorter time frames that push us to reach our full potential. We will go through a sales example so you can get the point.

In car sales, most salespeople have a number in mind that they would like to sell by month end. This isn't an arbitrary number, but normally associated with a bonus level. The average salesperson when asked will be able to tell you they are going to sell X (whatever that bonus number is) that month. But most will not have any idea how they are going to there. For the example let's use 16 as the number that we are trying to achieve. For the sake of the conversation we are going to work on a 30 day month; if there are 31 days in the month it just means you have an extra day to hit your goal.

Sales/Opportunities = Closing Ratio 

The first question that needs to answered is what is your closing ratio. Don't cheat yourself here; be real. How many deals have you closed in the last 3 months, divided by the number of opportunities you have had to do business. Again, don't cheat yourself; count each person that you were in front of; just because you were not strong enough to overcome "Just looking" does not mean they were not a opportunity. Just because you could not get past the "gatekeeper" to get to the decision maker does not mean this is not an opportunity. Make sure you count all your opportunities to do business. Do not let your pride get in the way of your closing ratio. You don't need to make this number public, but once you know it you can work on it as well. It is important to make sure that you use at least a 3 month period so that you take out any anomalies from month to month. 

Goal/Closing Ratio = Number of Opportunities

Now that we have determined your closing ratio we need to determine what it is going to take to get there. This is where we determine how many opportunities we need to be in front to reach our goal. This time we are going to back into the number by dividing your goal by your closing ratio. For example, our goal was 16 and let's assume that our closing ratio is 25%. The formula would look like this: 16/.25 = 64. You need to be in front of 64 opportunities this month.

My next post will continue the equation and give another real life example where you can work backwards toward your goals. Now go figure out your TRUE closing ratio and the number of opportunities you will need to reach your goal. 

What is Chasing Fly Balls?

Chasing Fly Balls is my reminder, that to win the game you must understand the game and the little things that get you there. If we are going to win this game, I have to chase down and catch that fly ball. So many times we know what our goals are and we chase those goals without knowing how to get there. In the words of Steven R. Covey "Think with the end in mind". I think we all do that; I want to land the sale, I want that new job, I want to pay the bills off and a thousand other goals and dreams.

So many times we don't take the time to think and develop the plan to get there. If your goal is to win the ball game, you must get 27 outs, you must score more runs than your opponent and you must make fewer mistakes than the other team. These are the tasks that will get you to the end of the game with the desirable results.

In the ballgame, as in life there are a thousand what ifs and twists, and it becomes easy to forget about the little things that are going to get us the "win". Too many times we forget those actions and just focus on winning the game.

If you are in sales, are you chasing the sale or the specific actions that will get you that sale. In my career I have seen too many sales "professionals" chasing the sale without knowing what specific actions will get them the desired results. What is your closing ratio? How many prospects/clients do you need to see to get to your goal? It is now the middle of the month, where should you be to reach your goal? If you can't answer these questions, then you are chasing the sale rather than the Fly Ball. These are not the only answers you need to close the sale, but it is the start of the foundation for which you will build your plan.

Answer this: What is your number one goal/resolution/dream for 2012? That answer came very easy, I am sure.

Answer these (these might be a little more difficult): What specific actions must you take to get there? What time line have you set for yourself? Have you written down your goal/resolution/dream? Have you broken down the timeline for reaching these and given yourself milestones?

Goals get written down. Dreams happen in our heads. Dreams can become goals once you start writing them down and the specifics actions for getting there.

Looks like you have some dreams to write down and specific actions to write down as well. My next post will be on working backward from your goals and dreams to set specific actions and milestones during your journey.