Are you the lone wolf at your company or are you the first one to sign up to help organize the 3-legged sack race at the company picnic?
Sales is emotional and don’t say it’s not.
We all have found ourselves screaming loudly after closing a big sale and gnashing our teeth when the “stupid customer” doesn’t agree to the sale. It’s the same reason why when we close a big sale, so often another big sale follows suit. Makes you wonder if success loves company? I’ll tell you the answer.
Success DOES love company and that’s why I believe sales is a team sport!
Early in my career, my territory consisted of 1/3 of the state of Oregon. To make it worse, the 1/3 I had also didn’t have any people. The size of the territory was bigger than territory in 4 other states I covered driving my company-supplied Buick.
That Buick was a fine tuned machine, tuned so well that when you stepped on the gas the air-conditioning shut off. Obviously, this was lousy! Sure, it created more power to the engine, but simultaneously I became drenched in sweat.
Don’t feel bad for me driving my Buick, because I was never alone in the car. I had an amazing friend with me. You know the “friend” I’m talking about — it’s called the windshield. During my long drives between calls, I would have amazing conversations with my windshield.
If I had been smart enough, I would have realized the windshield would have counted as a second occupant to allow me to drive in the carpool lanes. Oh, I forgot — carpool lanes would require minimally a second lane, and that simply didn’t exist in all of Eastern Oregon.
During my time counting cattle in Eastern Oregon on my drives, I came to the conclusion I don’t play well alone. It’s boring! Worse yet is when I’m alone too long, I can come up with conspiracy theories about sales that would rival anything heard on AM talk radio today.
Sales is a team sport. We need each other, we need feedback, we need encouragement, and we need the brother and sisterhood of other salespeople. Who do you connect with and feed off of? As you feed off others, you’re also feeding them. Sales is not a solo activity.
Over the years, I’ve seen in my sales career and as a sales consultant and speaker that my best results always happen when I’m playing a team game.
Who’s on your team? I can’t stress enough for you to find other salespeople with whom you can connect, share and help each other.
A big reason I’m sharing this today is because TODAY is the day 600 salespeople, including a number of you who are reading this, are gathering in Atlanta for the OutBound Conference. A key reason I’m one of the four people putting on OutBound is to help create a team — an amazing sales team. We all sell different things to different markets, but we’re all on the same team — the sales team.
Your goal this week is to start getting others on your sales team. Sales is NOT a solo activity!
A coach can help you excel in your sales career! Invest in yourself by checking out my coaching program today!
Copyright 2018, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results
2 Responses
Many thanks Mark for a great post and keep up the Fabulous Work. One thing for sure is you will never be alone as long as I am here.
Best regards
Barry.
So glad you are my coach and I don’t feel alone with you on my side!