Only A Fool Learns By His Own Experience

Advice from successful salespeople.

By Mark Matteson

There are five levels of competence in any field:
1. Unconscious Incompetence—We don't know, and we don't know we don't know.
2. Conscious Incompetence—We know we don't know and it hurts.
3. Unconscious Competence—We are succeeding but we are not sure why.
4. Conscious Competence—We succeed and we know why.
5. Unconsciously Conscious Competence—We know. We know we know.

We have turned it over to habit. It's an over-learned skill, like tying our shoe.

When I first started in sales, I was at the first level of competence, Unconscious Incompetence. I was unaware. I knew nothing. I was clueless, green, blissful.

Within a few weeks, I advanced to that next level, Conscious Incompetence. I knew I didn't know anything. However, I did one thing right—I found a mentor and asked him to lunch. It was the best $20 I've ever invested. He was a superstar salesman at Xerox in the late '70s and early '80s. After achieving President's Club for five years running, they promoted him to sales manager. He took the last place district in the nation and turned it into the most successful one in the country.

When we broke bread in that Italian restaurant, he had just embarked on a very successful new career as an entrepreneur. I said to him frankly, "I want to be successful like you. What advice can you give to someone who is new in sales?" He pondered the question thoughtfully and replied, "Double your activity!" He continued, "If your boss says see five people this week, go see 10! If I tell you any more, it might confuse you. Try that and call me in a month." Then he changed the subject and my life.

When he was building his sales team at IBM in the 1930s, Tom Watson did several things that explained his superb sales record and rapid ascent:

1. He hired all the best salespeople he could find during the Depression and paid them more than their former employers had done;
2. He trained them exhaustively;
3. He encouraged them to THINK, and even had signs put around the office to that effect;
4. He insisted his sales staff "double their failure rate." In other words, like my mentor suggested, "Go see twice as many people!"

Make Use of Others' Experience
"Only a fool learns from his own mistakes; a wise man learns from others." As I began churning out twice as many proposals as my co-workers, I somehow managed to fumble my way to 150% of sales plan with only a 25% close rate. Reason? Activity! I now had progressed to the third level of competence, Unconscious Competence. I knew I was succeeding but was not sure why. With a strong desire to succeed and not much else, I began reading every sales book I could find, and for over a year, I faithfully read for 30 minutes each morning.

It was in that solitude and study time that the idea of a Success Survey struck me. Why not contact the top 20 people in my industry in other states and ask them some well thought out questions? I thought deeply about what I wanted to know. Examining the sales cycle, I created the questions and sent them out to 20 people. By the time I was finished, I had picked the brains of the most successful people in my industry.

That was almost 10 years ago. I have since added much information to that initial base of data and continue to ask successful people in all walks of life why they succeed. Here is the product of some of that sound advice and observation distilled in summary format.

Calls Made Each Week to New Prospects
Most started out with cold calls. As their careers progressed, they migrated to referrals from existing clients. Almost all of them met or exceeded the minimum suggested activity number. If three prospects a week were suggested, they saw five or six people. Activity was the key.

Cold Calling Insights
Pick an acceptable number of cold calls per week to ensure your funnel stays full and do what you can to maintain that level of activity. Use a planned and well-rehearsed telephone script. Defend the time, schedule it, and then make a lot of calls.

Cluster your calls. Do them all in a two-hour period. Determine whom the top salesperson is and how many calls they do per week and vow to do 50% more than they do, as a minimum.

Be courteous to every person you talk to, regardless of title or position. Practice the Golden Rule. Face your fears, and the death of fear is certain.

Proposals Generated Per Week
The number depended on how effective they were. Some of these superstars had 80% close rates, so they only needed to generate two or three a week. Others whose close rates were under 50% were generating four or five a week. This required that they become excellent managers of their time. Each person was ruthless. There was always a sense of urgency about their work.

Reasons for Success
Most were passionate about their work or offering. There was a sense of purpose, a deeper meaning to their chosen profession. They saw themselves as consultants, true professionals who were other-centered. They put service to others over self-interest. They also believed in their companies and the importance of their work. They were passionate and it was obvious in their voice and aspect.

Most were also advocates of understanding their corporate culture and history. They knew what was offered, why, and how it could help their prospects. Reading trade magazines was a common practice, especially articles on their industry or their prospects' industries. Clipping and mailing articles seemed to be prevalent.

Most of the successful companies had corporate libraries stocked with books, audio and videocassettes. Some of the more progressive ones also used teleconference, video-conference and brown-bag seminar lunches for in-house learning. Learning was a top priority and that filtered down from the CEO and senior managers.

Weekly Work Hours
The answer depended on their competence and effectiveness. Time in grade or years of selling experience mattered little. The more successful ones worked 35 to 40 hours, usually after three or four years or more of progressively improving knowledge, skills and relationships. They found ways to work smarter and spent more time with people who would buy and less time with those that couldn't or wouldn't buy. Early in their careers, 60 hour weeks were common. For the peak performers, sales was not a nine-to-five job.

Goals
This was the common link. Successful individuals and companies had written goals that were reviewed and monitored weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly. Many of the more successful organizations invested in time away—a retreat of some kind—to reflect, plan and determine the course for the year. Some of the peak performers reviewed their goals daily and some used techniques of visualization and imagination and swore by them.

Recovery from Adversity and Rejection
They stayed focused and persisted. They saw more people, realizing that sales is just a numbers game. Every "No" was that much closer to the next "Yes!" Some said they bounced back by putting 100% into every opportunity and then letting go of the results. Many would go back to the prospect, pick up the proposal and humbly ask what they did wrong and could improve. Learning was the key. Staying in touch 6 to 12 months later had positive results. Working on the relationship—with a smile—seemed to be a key.

Prospecting Vertical Markets
Some stayed in the markets that were proven for their industry and became experts in one specific market. They specialized in that, all the while networking and continuously generating referrals. Others went outside the box and were contrarians, succeeding in new markets due to an ability to develop relationships and understand needs.

Generating Referrals
Two times to ask for a referral were noted:

1. After a sale is made, the day of the close, when the prospect is feeling the best about the new relationship and decision.

2. Three to six months after, at lunch, when the salesperson checks with a client to see how the product or service is performing and how satisfied they are. If they are satisfied, ask for two names. Ask for a personal introduction if the customer is comfortable doing that. The next best approach is a phone call from the customer on the salesperson's behalf. If the client is unhappy, resolve the issue with enthusiasm and speed. Let some time pass and check again to see if they are satisfied. If yes, ask for the referral.

Other sources of leads? Orphan files, past clients that left during the last five years. Competitors' top clients. Neighbors, friends, acquaintances. You are looking for someone to introduce you. A referral works because you are piggy-backing on the credibility of the person they trust and like.

Regular Sales Manager Meetings
Without exception, some measure of accountability existed. Review and Plan Sessions were held once a week to discuss activity and knowledge, twice a month at the very least. These sessions allow the sales manager to monitor both activity and attitude. If either is lacking, steps must be taken to assist the salesperson to get back on track. "Where performance is measured, performance improves."

Lifelong Learning
Several things became clear as I began to apply some of these ideas and moved through the levels of competency to finally arrive at the fifth level, Unconsciously Conscious Competence. First in sales, then eventually in other areas:

• People will help if I have the courage to ask and act on the ideas;
• It's possible to speed up the process by improving the books I read and the people I associate with;
• Lifelong learning must become a top priority. Seminars, workshops, conversations with mentors, books, audio-tapes, videos and distance learning via the Internet are all excellent resources;
• Doubling my current activity will always improve my sales performance, regardless of my experience, age or knowledge;
• Keep a journal. Ask and answer each day: What did I learn today? What went well? What could I improve?

As a consultant, 80% of the work I do, whether it's a keynote presentation, consulting project or training session, now begins with some kind of formal survey. It can be a one-on-one anonymous survey to a cross section of the organization; a five-minute survey to participants in a seminar about expectations for the day; or a telephone interview to understand keynote presentation needs. Bottom line? I can only achieve understanding if I take the time to ask, listen, verify, plan, act and analyze.

There's an old story about a bright, young, ambitious salesperson just out of college. She walks into her sales manager's office one day and asks, "How can I be successful like you? Can you tell me exactly what I need to be successful in this business?"

The wise manager leans back in her chair, ponders the sales awards on the wall, smiles ruefully and says softly, "I think I can answer that question with one sentence. Good judgement!" The young rep looks at her mentor with a confused look on her face and asks, "How do I get that?" "Experience!" replies the manager. "And just how do I acquire that?" asks the rep. "Bad judgement. Now go get 'em!"

Only a fool learns from his or her own experience. Who can you take to lunch this month? It just might be the best $20 you've ever spent. Who knows? It just might change your life.

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The MHEDA Journal • Fourth Quarter 2000 • Volume 29, No. 4 • Contents are Copyright © Data Key Communications, Inc.
All rights reserved. • Nothing may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission of the publisher.