123124… ABC

Code?  No.  123124 is the last day of the year; the last day to “hit the number” for sales reps on a calendar year.  It’s the countdown to midnight; to accelerate our accelerators (maybe even to keep our job).

ABC?

ABC: Always be closing. Telling's not selling.

Boiler Room

Please share your favorite closing story.  Here are two of mine.

I worked with a seasoned sales professional years ago at Integral Systems.  He needed one last deal to exceed his number and qualify for President’s Club.  His prospect was in New York and he started with the old “camp-out-close” - showing up at their office without an appointment; determined to see his prospect; camped out until he did; needed to close the deal.  The prospect played along.

Unfortunately after agreeing to meet, his prospect wasn’t budging as my colleague tried every “ABC” tactic he knew - even an opt-out, side letter (unacceptable by today’s revenue recognition standards, but a common “last resort” back then).  At the end of a short but spirited interaction between my sales colleague and his prospect, the “because-it’s-my-day” close was born.  It likely went something like this:

Prospect:

“I’m sorry, but as I told you; our plan is to finalize our vendor selection in January.  Why should I buy from you today?”

Sales Rep:

“Well Sir; because today is my day; and you have an opportunity to make today a special day for me.  Some day it will be your day; and when that day arrives, someone will have the opportunity to make that day a special day for you.  But today is my day and that’s why you should buy today.”

And his prospect did!

Then there’s the variation of the “because-it’s-my-day” close, I like to call the “me-or-my-successor” close:  

As a sales professional, I carried a quota for over 30 years.  And I can remember my 2^nd quota year as clearly as any.  You see, in my first year, I was more lucky than good.  That led to a promotion, and a hefty quota increase for my second year – I was in over my head

After 26 weeks into my 2^nd year, I was put on a “performance warning”.  At the 39^th week, the Vice President of Sales was asking my Sales Manager to fire me.  Since my company had chosen to proactively promote me (perhaps a bit prematurely) at the start of the year, I asked my Sales Manager to give me 52 weeks to sell my annual quota.

We agreed that at the end of the 52^nd week, if I was still below 100%, I would resign.  At the end of my 51^st week, I was at 75% and significantly behind the required sales dollars necessary to keep my job.  However, I had been working hard on a very large account.

I called the executive at my prospect and asked, “Do you think you will accept our proposal?”  “Yes”, was his response.  “Excellent, thank you!”  I reacted.  And then I added, “Do you think you could place your order this week?”  When my prospect asked why, I said, “Because if you place your order next week, it will be with my successor.”

And at the 52^nd weekly sales meeting, with the Vice President of Sales in attendance, I “roll-called” the second largest deal in the Region’s history; finished my 2^nd year at exactly 100% of my quota; and kept my job.

123124… “ABC” everyone, “ABC”.  Bon chance!

GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Christ’s birthday…

Merry Christmas!  Of course, Christmas should be more consequential than just today, true?  Nonetheless, I’m wishing you a day of peace, hope, joy and celebration with family and friends.

Whatever our spiritual beliefs, may each of us find meaning to our life during this season in a way that lasts throughout the entire year.  While we may not want to look back and celebrate all of what occurred in 2024, a little reminiscing on our blessings is in order.  Then we can look forward to an even better 2025!

Lest there be any confusion, may we be reminded of that which was important this year, and that which wasn’t.

We are reminded by bankers to be of good cheer:

A little boy received a new drum for Christmas.  Shortly thereafter, his father came home from work and the mother told him, “I don’t think the man upstairs likes to hear Georgie play his new drum, but he’s certainly subtle about it.”  “How do you know”? asked the father.  “Well, this afternoon he gave Georgie a knife and asked him if he knew what was inside the drum.”

Herbert Prochnow

We are reminded by the gospel to be satisfied with who we are not what we bought:

You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are – no more, no less.  That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

Matthew 5

We are reminded by the novelists to remember (and be thankful for) our fortunes:

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

Charles Dickens

And I am reminded to offer His blessings to you and yours from me and mine.

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

GAP

Management Lessons…

I recently came upon these lessons from my favorite, Unknown Sage.  Enjoy.

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?”  The crow answered: "Sure, why not."  So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.  All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped the rabbit and ate it.

Management Lesson:

To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy.”  "Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull.  "They're packed with nutrients."  The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree.  The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.  Finally after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree.  Soon, a farmer promptly spotted him and shot the turkey out of the tree.     

Management Lesson:

Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

A little bird was flying south for the winter.  It was so cold; the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field.  While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it.  As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was.  The dung was actually thawing him out!  He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.  A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.  Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him!

Management Lessons:

1) Not everyone who drops crap on you is your enemy.

2) Not everyone who gets you out of crap is your friend.

3) And when you're in deep do-do, keep your mouth shut!

The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked.  As they went long, they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding.  The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.  Later, they passed some people that remarked, "What a shame, he makes that little boy walk."  They decided they both would walk.  Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride, so the both rode the donkey.  Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey.  The boy and man said they were probably right so they decided to carry the donkey.  As they crossed a bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.     

Management Lesson:

If you try to please everyone, you will eventually lose your ass.

How many people do you know who aspire to become “the manager”?  How many have already done so?  Careful what we wish for, true?

                                                            GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Titles…

I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its title, but…  titles do catch our attention, yes?  I wonder: If we added clever titles to our Progress Reports, would it make for better reading by our managers?  Could a title improve our content?

One of my favorite book titles is Hope is Not a Strategy© by Rick Page.  Applicable to so many of life’s challenges, true?  I liked the book, too.  Rick suggested to be successful in the sales profession we need to go out and “hunt” for business vs. hoping business will somehow find us.

I bought a book once titled,  How to Work for an Idiot © by Dr. John Hoover.  Question: If I’m a Manager, do I buy that book for my people?  What if they but it for themselves and I see it on their desk, then what do I do?  What if they have dog-eared several pages!!  It brings to mind words from our favorite, Unknown Sage:

Owen’s Theory of Organizational Deviance: 

Every organization has an allotted number of positions to be filled by misfits.

So, should we put titles on our Progress Reports?  In my career I noticed when I wrote a report it always stimulated a call from my manager to discuss what was in the report.  It made me wonder; if we’re going to talk about it anyway, why did I have to write the report in the first place?  Back to our Unknown Sage:

Sweeny’s Law: 

The length of a Progress Report is inversely proportional to the amount of progress.

I don’t write Progress Reports anymore.  If you do and you’d like a little help you with your report title might I recommend, Only the Paranoid Survive © by Andy Grove?

GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.