Are you a sales professional or a sales rep? I recently posed this question to my new sales team at Connecticut Business Systems during a Monday morning sales meeting with the intent of getting some feedback as to what they thought the difference was. What came out of the exercise was something unexpected. What actually came out of the meeting was what I actually expected of them.
Many years ago, when I was a brand new sales manager with A-Copy, Canon's largest independent distributor of copy machines, a man walked into my office, introduced himself and after a few minutes of pleasantries asked me "what are you reading, right now?" His name was Dick King, a local industry hero who just retired from Xerox after many successful years of sales, training and managing. He and I competed for business several times so even though we never met, we knew of one another.
His question took me back a bit at first for several reasons. One, I thought it was an odd question to ask someone you never met, and two, I haven't read anything since college! As a matter of fact I hated reading! So after admitting that I'm not a fan of books we proceeded to have a conversation around the value of reading and the impact it can have on personal growth and improvement. What made it interesting is that he didn't tell me what I should read, at least not at first. What he did was ask me what my interests were. That was an easy question to answer since I just took up the game of golf a month prior and it was the only thing I could think about. I caught the bug. It consumed me. I wasn't very good, but did everything I could do to improve. Hit the rage every afternoon, watched the golf channel every evening and was in the process of having a custom set of clubs made by a local golf shop. So once Dick saw how passionate I was about my new hobby, he suggested I read a book called "Golf is not a Game of Perfect" by Bob Rotella, a rebound sports psychologist known for his work with many famous golfers, sports teams and businesses.
That was the beginning of the end. It was the first time in my life where I read something, applied the principles or techniques which were suggested and saw immediate results and improvement. Talk about getting hooked! During the same year, I read close to 30 books on various subjects and my career began to take off. A conversation with Dick became almost a daily event. We created a yearly reading list which included books like "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", "The Oz Principle" and "Getting into your Customers Head" and compared notes on various subjects. Dick was a sales professional. I was a salesperson. Don't get me wrong. I was hardworking, dedicated and I knew my products inside and out. I was committed to my company, cared about my customers and had a passion for winning deals. Everything you want in a sales person, right? Yes, I was a good sales person, but Dick thought me what it took to be a sales professional, a "student of the game". You see there are many sales people in the world. I have either hired, trained, managed or fired hundreds of them over my 21 year career. However, I only met 4 which I consider a Sales Professional.
So what makes a sales professional? A person who not only produces significant results through hard work, great customer skills and product knowledge, but one who studies the art of sales, invests in learning and continually improves skills, knowledge and attitude. The sales pro, studies trends, learns the intricacies of different vertical markets and competition. Dick once told me that if anyone invests one hour to a particular subject or field of interest each day, in five years they will be in the top 5% of the subject matter experts in that field. How many people do you know that have done that? One hour of learning each day!
I dated a girl in high school whose father was a physician. Had a longstanding successful practice in Falmouth Massachusetts and from what I saw had many regular patients. Yet everyday he came home with a stack of periodicals which he would read before dinner for about an hour. So one day I asked him why he bothered. His answer was simple. In order to stay on top of his game, he need to make sure to stay current with the latest medical news, advancements and improvements. Many of us feel that some of the top professions include being a doctor, lawyer and college professor. Every physician, attorney and professor I know spends time daily on honing their skills and knowledge, so why is it that so few sales people invest in their skills and knowledge?
It starts with the sales leader's expectations. My team knows what my definition of a sales professional is. It's a individual who produces consistent results, has great work ethic, customer service skills, knows the products and studies the sales industry. Cory Schemenaur, a sales professional who once worked for me, was invited by a client to join their annual business planning, senior staff meeting. He was invited not because he sold them a lot of copiers, although he did do that. The customer viewed him as a consultant, a valued advisor with a high level of business acumen. Cory invested many hours in learning about their industry and market. He studied their progress, he knew their mission critical applications, he knew their vision and mission. Most of all he was able to use his knowledge and skills to add value to their organization. Cory was a student of the game. Are you?
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