For those of you following my little story here, I will be posting Chapter 3 tomorrow. I wanted to quickly address a few questions about this process:
Q: Why am I doing this?
A: Three reasons really: 1) Writers write. I asked an author friend of mine years ago, "If I want to be a writer, what should I do?" He said, "Simple...writers write...and write...and write some more" Same I suppose with dancers, singers, sellers... 2) I'm hoping to share within this story some insight on how we might view the world in a way that creates more happiness and success...3) I always wanted to write fiction...because it's all about telling a story. Sales is about story telling, so it's a good habit to sharpen up on.
Q: Am I aware that there are typos?
A: Yes, tons of 'em. Along with jumbled thoughts, missing pieces of info, too much crap at certain points, etc...remember, I'm writing this on the fly, as we go along from day to day, and I DO plan on going back and doing mass amounts of re-write and editing.
Q: Are you going to make this into a book?
A: I hope to. I'll probably end up self-publishing it at the end of the day. Not sure it will ever be a best seller, but it's a way for me to leave a legacy to my children on how I see the world and how hopefully they can find happiness and success as well.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to work on getting our boy Lee here out of a terrible spot...
GB
(A few notes: As I mentioned last week, I'm going to write a holiday story over the next few weeks, one I may decide to turn into a real book eventually (maybe you tell me what YOU think). So these posts are going to be sort of loose drafts of a work in progress...before any editing, re-writing, etc...just thought it would be fun to head into the holidays telling a story.)
Chapter 1: Trouble
Lee Easton was on the verge of a meltdown. Not just a deep depression, but a real honest to God emotional crash. He had felt it coming over the past few months, and the sales call he was about to conclude would be the final little nudge to send him over that cliff to the rocks below. He was going to fall hard and fast, and he knew he probably wasn't going to walk away from this one.
"Well Gerry...I can't believe this...I think it's no secret that I've been counting on getting this deal done for about five months now...and that's why I drove all the way down here to Des Moines to your corporate offices...", Lee said as he lurched forward in his chair, dropping his elbows on the desk of Gerry Porter, VP of Marketing for The Midwest Medical Centers.
"Now hold on Lee...I told you before you left Minneapolis that there were some potential changes that might need to be made with this deal", Gerry said.
"Yes, you said changes, but now you're saying your review board has decided to cut the whole annual advertising program? That's like at least $150,000 I had been counting on for our radio station next year..." Lee said, realizing he sounded pathetic, like a jilted lover.
"Well...I'm not saying it's a final final...but it's what they were talking about this morning...so at this point I wouldn't be too overly optim..." Gerry's voice trailed off into the background of Lee's wandering mind, as he began playing in his head the next conversations he'd have to have with his manager; then the regional manager; then the corporate people at top...and finally, with his wife Meghan. They'd all want to know -- so what happened?
Yes I know I said it was at 90% closed last week, he imagined saying. Well, what happened was, the hospital just announced major budget cuts. It's happening everywhere. Yes, I know it represented about 50% of my pipeline for next quarter. No, I don't have a plan to replace it fully. Yes honey, this will mean going on probation, probably as early as next week...then 90 days later, I'm out looking for work.
"...so I'd say, circle back with me in about a month, and I'll let you know if maybe we want to go with a smaller program, maybe in late first quarter", Gerry finished as he folded up his notebook and glanced at his watch.
Lee felt the desperation pushing out through his skin, he could almost smell it on himself. "Gerry...please just give me a minute to talk more about this...look, I don't mind telling you at this point that my butt is on the line with this deal...when we were first talking we were looking at the potential of maybe doing a $500,000 year program, remember? And you said it was a perfect fit, you liked our ideas. Hell, I've been yakking about this to everyone in our office. Please, there's got to be something we can still do to salvage some of this"
Gerry hated this part of the buying process. He loved the attention, the free meals, luxury suites at the ball games, and all that...he just disliked the final moment when he had to drop disappointing news on some poor sales sap. The truth was, he never really liked Lee's proposal, and never even showed it to anyone on the review board (hell there was never a review board to begin with). It had all been a pack of lies from the start. He'd just wanted to give the poor guy something, especially after he got their whole marketing group into the VIP party after the Vikings game last year.
Gerry's young assistant walked by and pointed at the window. "Just FYI, it's snowing like crazy and we're trying to get everything done by 4:00 so we can all get out of here before it's a mess...so if you need something before this weekend could you let me know in the next little bit?" She glanced at Lee, then back to Gerry. "Sorry to bust in, just wanted to let you know..."
Lee realized the body language in the room must have looked like a pleading criminal begging the judge not to send him to jail. He leaned back in his chair and smiled uncomfortably at the assistant as she slipped out of sight.
"Lee, I'm sorry you drove all the way down here just to get this news...but don't give up...there still may be some hope for us doing something at some point in the near future. Who knows it could end up being bigger than our original idea?" Gerry said as he glanced out the window and started making obvious moves to signal the meeting was done.
"You better be getting out of here too Lee if you're going to head back to Minneapolis tonight." Gerry said glancing at his watch and tossing Lee's latest attempt at a proposal into a stack of papers on the corner of his desk. A stack that just happened to be poised ominously over the Iowa State Cyclone trash can below.
"Yeah...I um...okay, well..." Lee said as he closed his notebook and put away his pen. "How about if I came back early next week and maybe I could get a chance to meet with the review board myself?"
"Well...they normally don't do that...but stay in touch and we'll see what happens" Gerry stuck out his hand as he shrugged his coat up around his shoulders.
Lee slowly shook hands, but felt like he'd been kicked in the gut. A 43-year-old man reduced to begging some late twenty something dweeb to just take a moment and listen before he takes his cute assistant's advice and scurries off to his cozy new downtown loft.
I am such a loser at this, Lee thought as he walked slowly toward the elevator. I'm 15 years older than some kid who's dictating the outcome of my life. Why am I not in management by now the kid is probably asking himself? And the assistant is no doubt wondering, 'What are you doing still selling, old man?' And truth be told I don't have a good freaking answer to that myself. What am I going to tell Johnson when I get back in the car? I know he'll call me and want to know. He's been on my ass for the past month. Shit. I am so screwed heading into next quarter. I don't have anything even remotely close to making up for this loss.
"Uh Lee...if I don't see you before Christmas, have a great holiday," Gerry called from down the hall as he turned out the light in his office.
"Thanks...you...t" The elevator door closed on the last word. "...too...you bastard." Lee finished quietly as he stepped to the back of the empty elevator. If he doesn't see me before Christmas? Hell he's not doing this deal anytime soon. I am so screwed. How am I going to explain this to everyone. He imagined Meghan hearing the news and just rolling her eyes, then asking something like, "Well...did you try everything you could think of?"
He backed into the door to the outside of the office building, hoping to brace against the howling wind and snow. It took him two solid shoves to get it open, then he slipped and dropped his computer bag/briefcase upside down on the walk, spilling out business cards, loose change, and a lucky coin he'd carried for years. He bothered only to pick up the lucky coin, and with a disgusted chuckle gave it a toss into the driving storm where it disappeared instantly and never made a sound when it landed.
As he carefully moved around his 2004 Saturn, dusting off the layer of snow that had accumulated on his windows, he began to play the coming conversation with Meghan over in his mind. It was going to go like most other conversations they've had as of late. Well it just didn't happen this time. Yes, I know it was a big opportunity. Yes, I'm sure Johnson is going to freak out. No, I don't want you to go back to work.
They'd been married for seven years, and the last four had been the roughest. Not only was Lee's job full of pressure and stress, but they'd had two children within about 25 months, Kaley age 3 and Tyler age 1. Meghan had been an accomplished art designer before the babies came, and neither wanted her to work full-time if at all possible. At first it was okay, Lee's advertising client list had been growing steadily, but then the recession came and suddenly they were living paycheck to paycheck, and that was if they were lucky. And now this fiasco.
He finished the last window and glanced at the sky northward toward the direction back to Minneapolis. The grey clouds had formed into one slate wall from which the swirling snow emerged. Near the horizon the sky was almost pitch black, and he couldn't tell if it was the approach of more sinister storm activity or just the coming night. Either way it was going to be a long and very scary ride home.
As he curled his 6' 3" frame into the drivers seat and pulled off his gloves, he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pants pocket. He froze and then closed his eyes. Here it came he thought...the beginning of the long drive into the darkness of his life.
He glanced at the phone: It was from the corporate office. Which meant Johnson's boss. Which meant... this snowstorm would be a cakewalk compared to the real storm that was about to start.
I'm in the mood to write a story...a Christmas story perhaps (or holiday story for my Jewish friends out there in blog-ville)...it's a story about a struggling salesperson...he's on the edge, struggling, worried, freaking out about the future, etc...when he finds himself on a lonely late-night drive going back to his home in Minneapolis after yet another unsuccessful sales call in Des Moines...on the way back, he's caught in a blinding snow storm and is forced off the main highway and onto a side road...his situation grows more dire when he slides off the road and into a field.
His car is damaged...his cell phone is dead, he's not dressed for the weather...and the snow and cold are descending quickly...so he trudges toward the light of a small farm house...where he meets an old man who takes him in...the old man listens to his story and proceeds to show him a set of 3 eyeglasses...each with a mystical quality that enable the person that puts them on to see life in entirely new ways...the salesperson is forever changed by what he sees through these glasses and sets himself on a course of great success and personal fulfillment.
Perhaps in reading the story, you too will be changed by seeing what the salesperson sees?
Stay tuned as I'll be writing it in serial fashion starting next week...get the popcorn and hot-buttered rum ready.
I know I've talked about the ol' "Elevator Speech" at various times over the past few years, but I wanted to revisit it with a bit of a twist. I'm calling it the "Elevator Shaft Speech" (remember this was MY creation when everyone steals it)...which is just the elevator speech, but in about 1/10th the time...or "Crap...I've been pushed down a shaft and have like 5 seconds to live"--
So let's say we're at a business mixer somewhere and instead of using that nicely prepared, smooth sounding Elevator Speech...someone rolls up on you from behind, taps you on the shoulder, does the awkward glance at your name tag and says...
"So...tell me who you are and what you do"... And here you've got a mouth full of cheese and a damp hand from holding a sweaty bottle of cold beer...and wham, you suddenly have to answer!
What do you say? What quickly comes to mind? This is where you need the Elevator Shaft Speech? Something you can say off the cuff, quickly, in like 10 seconds that encapsulates all you do for your company and/or humanity?
My suggestion is that you make one right away, and to make it as compelling as possible to the listener. And the listener may vary depending on the audience, venue, etc.
For instance, let's pretend you are a doctor (here I go with the Doctor thing again...sheesh, I'm like George Costanza always pretending to be an Architect...anyway) and you are in a mixer full of other doctors...in that case, your Elevator Shaft Speech may be more technical and focused on the type of treatments you provide. However, if you were in a room full of patients, the Elevator Shaft Speech would probably be about the sicknesses you attack and/or the symptoms you try to identify.
So think about yourself and what you do... chances are you're going to be in more mixers with patients than with other doctors...so your Elevator Shaft Speech should be about how you help people vs the stuff you sell.
Here are some examples to follow:
Radio Ad salesperson -- "I help companies create tons of new revenue"
Insurance salesperson -- "I help people cut costs by about 30%"
Technology salesperson -- "I attack bugs and viruses all day"
...of course you can then follow with your company name, what you sell, etc...but the opening is designed to just get the other person to quickly "get" what you REALLY do for people.
Got it? Now give it a try and see if you don't suddenly become the life of the party...well, at least not a wall-flower at every mixer.
GB
One of my favorite ways to step out of the cacophony (word I've been dying to use lately) of 2009 mind noise (information, news, tension, technology...you know what I mean) is to sit down and flip on an old Andy Griffith Show (only the Black and White ones for me thanks).
And I noticed something interesting the other day on a gem I was watching with my daughter Maddy (to a 14 year old it's like us watching the first moving pictures)...anyway, in this one Andy, Goob, and Floyd were sitting around the barber shop just having a conversation for like 20 minutes on one topic...something like the huge oak tree in the town square. And what was interesting to me was that they were actually looking at each other, talking and listening...and even commenting on what the other person said!!
One topic? 20 minutes? In the middle of the day? Are you freaking kidding me??
Can you imagine that scene in today's world?
We could go on and on with that scenario (and perhaps we should??)...anyway, you get the point. We are so over-wired, over-programmed, over-everythinged to ever really stop and have just one conversation about one thing.
And I really do think it's destroying our ability to properly question and practice deep listening when talking with clients in sales calls. I really do.
I mean think about yourself in a sales call...don't you have a tendency to do one of these:
This too could go on and on (and maybe it shouldn't!!).
The point is...we may be losing the ability to practice deep listening...and it may take some real work on our part to silence all of this for small moments of time in order to look someone in the eye, ask a question...and God forbid...listen to their answer!
Now when is Clara going to finish that next batch of pickles (because we all know Aunt Bee's suck!!)
GB
Here is a link to the November newsletter, "Notes from the Ugly Pond"...please go to the web site to register your name to get this each month via email...there are also archived ones in column on left side.
Just click here to launch
GB
I love the snow more now than ever and never get tired of these big tree-breaking heavy snows.
21"last night and this morning...the big resorts got over three feet! But even better than the snow are the sunshine and mild temps that come right after...
Hope I've convinced you to come to Colorado this coming ski season...and when you do, please look me up, I'm always up for coffee...or dirty martinis!!
Now back to my snow blower...here's to snow days and hot buttered rum...
GB