The Sales Mystic

Coreopsis at Sam Knob

Two conversations with sales colleagues in the past week inspired the theme of this blog. One was a conversation with Alan, who had just rejoined a former employer to take over an under-performing territory. Alan and I were noting that in our experience new sales opportunities often emerge unexpectedly and totally separately from our proactive outreach or cold calling campaigns. It’s as if by “stirring the pot” through our own efforts, something from out in left field shows up. We agreed that the key success factors when such opportunities show up are 1) being fully present to the prospect and their story; 2) paying close attention in order to get clarity on the key buying motivations; and 3) taking quick and creative action to align our solutions with their need. Alan had already generated two new consulting engagements through this approach, creating such a high degree of trust and moving so quickly that the client felt no need to speak with the competition.

The second conversation was with Desiree, whom I met locally after coming across a notification of her talk on “The Power of Deep and Soulful Listening” submitted for IgniteAsheville. I reached out to Desiree on Twitter, and we met over tea this afternoon. Desiree told me the story of an eleventh-hour inspiration on the eve of her 46th birthday. She decided at 11:30pm that evening to offer a one-hour coaching session for the incredibly low price of $46 to anyone who scheduled the session the day of her birthday. She logged into her blog site, wrote the offer and sent out the notification to her blog and Twitter followers by midnight. By the next morning on her birthday, 20 people had signed up for sessions, many of whom have continued since with fully paid sessions.

In both Alan’s and Desiree’s case, they were fully present to see opportunities (or creative ideas in Desiree’s case) that presented themselves, they paid attention to how the opportunity could be leveraged, and they took swift action to bring it to fruition.

The photo you see here was taken at the end of a day of shooting when we were short on time; but the special moment of light, wildflowers and cloud formations were too good to pass up! Are you taking advantage of the three simple qualities, Be Present, Pay Attention and Be Nimble in your personal or professional life? Perhaps an even simpler title for this idea would be “seize the moment”!

East Coast Sunrise

In photography, the frame of view makes a world of difference what the image conveys and the impact to the viewer. Similarly, in life, our frame of reference – or context – makes all the difference in what we perceive and how we interact with the world around us. I have found this to be especially true in my sales career, and I expect this relates to any career or avocation you may have.

So, what is the context within which you engage in your chosen profession or hobbies?

This may seem “self-centered” at first glance, but I have found the more I know about my deeper reality as a human being, the more I have opened up to love and appreciate the world around me, including my human family and all life on the planet.

For me, “life in the sales lane” has been greatly enriched by seeking and finding answers (at least provisional ones!) to the core questions of life and human existence. For starters, what kind of answers do you get when you ask yourself these questions: Who and What am I? What does it mean to be a human being? Is there a purpose to life and if so, how does it express itself in my life?

Perhaps you have found answers to these questions through your religious practice, or philosophical exploration. If so, Read the rest of this entry »

Kauai Sunset

My friend Jim is a retired B2B insurance salesman, with tons of sales experience. In one of our conversations about discovering the soul of the sale, he commented, “You describe an ideal situation where both you and the buyer are clear, confident and self-assured; and the prospect is personally empowered by their employer to make a decision. I found selling much easier in this setting. The challenge is to find those conditions in a prospect company.”
Jim described his experience in dealing with prospects who are so wrapped up in their own personal situation that it is all but impossible to ‘get through to them’. For him, active listening and related techniques didn’t always work. Jim asked, how does the soul of the sale approach help with situations where you don’t have ideal conditions?
Well that got my juices flowing! It is especially the challenging situations with dis-empowered or preoccupied prospects where a connection with the soul level transforms the sales process. Jim and I came to the same conclusion that the most important thing a sales person can orchestrate in a new or existing sales relationship can be expressed in one word: CLARITY.
Both sales person and customer must have a clear picture and understanding of what needs to be achieved and what will be offered and delivered. Not every relationship is the right match, and not every sales opportunity will come to fruition. Getting to that level of clarity is crucial in navigating the sales journey, and being focused on the most important relationships.

As I reflected on the idea of CLARITY, it occurred to me that the letters make a great acronym for a set of core principles Read the rest of this entry »

My bro' Kenny

Tell me now, what is your gig
Why are you in it, & what are you sellin’

Tell me the truth
Don’t give me no bull

If your heart ain’t in it
I’m givin’ you the boot

Don’t give me no greed
It just shows your fear

Ya got nothin’ to lose
Abundance is here

Commerce is ‘bout givin’
And receivin’ mutually

We’re in this together
Both you and me

Who likes to be sold?
That’s gettin’ so old!

Who loves to buy?
Now your catchin’ my eye!

Show me you care
‘Bout more than my bucks Read the rest of this entry »

October Snow

Every business has a soul. It’s the spark of energy and light that birthed the business and sustains its growth. It’s the passion that inspires its owner and employees and attracts its customers. Its the core values that connect the business with its customers and suppliers and give it purpose and life. Its the essence of its products and services that shape its place in the market and guide the creation of new products and services; keeping pace with changing customer desires and goals.

When a company loses touch with its soul, it begins to wander without understanding its core strengths; failing to hit the mark with new products or services. The spark of life that connected the businesses offerings with the soul of its customers begins to fade; leading to loss of loyalty and market share. Employees become uncertain of the company’s direction and find it challenging to remain inspired about products and services that are no longer in touch with the changing desires of its customers.

The soul of your business is its life blood, its heart, and its intellect all cohesively connected in a balanced whole. The soul of your business exists quietly in the background supporting the company, but its real power comes forward when the company leaders and employees connect consciously with the holistic soul of the company and are guided by its vision and purpose. All the company’s creations will then embody that spirit, empowering the employees, products Read the rest of this entry »

Beech at Nightfall

My favorite photography mentor, Les Saucier begins his outdoor shooting workshops with the admonition, “We aren’t going for the trophy shot today. This is all practice.” What a simple and powerful approach to freeing us to enjoy the process and unlock creative possibilities! Les often elaborates on the point by suggesting that we ask ourselves, “What if…?”, bringing another invitation to break from old ways of seeing and explore new possibilities.

Les’ suggestions apply equally to creative selling. As with photography, the best opportunities present themselves when we free ourselves from attachment to the outcome, and focus on having fun with the process. Enjoyment is contagious, attracts others, and expands the flow of opportunities. Asking ourselves, “What if…” is a powerful way to discover new solutions to challenging sales situations.

Consider the ancient Beech tree in this photo. How free and creative has it been in finding places to root itself over the rocky mountain, and extending its branches in flowing ways to find the sun? It even survived early 1900′s clear cutting of forests along the Blue Ridge Mtns, perhaps because of its free and twisted shapes.

Creative selling calls us to bring ourselves, our gifts and skills fully present in every moment of the sales cycle; sometimes in unique and different ways. Think about the kind of energy and tone of interaction you generate when you approach your sales with openness to the flow of energy, practicing your skills and discovering what life presents, vs. trying to drive the prospect to your next “big sale”. At the end of the day, regardless of what opportunities have surfaced, you are more likely to feel a sense of satisfaction and joy in what has been achieved. At the very least, you will have Read the rest of this entry »

Surfing Maui

Instincts are an inner guidance system – a sixth sense, or in popular terms your “spider sense”. Instincts anticipate what may be around the corner, be it opportunity or danger. The survival instinct guides the herd of gazelle to the most fertile source of food – or away from the danger of a predator. The survival instinct functions much the same way in humans, but there are other instincts that we can put to use as well. Surfing anyone?

Instincts put all our senses on alert. They marshal all our faculties and skills to a one-pointed sense of purpose. In sales, instincts provide us with signals concerning the quality and value of a lead or prospect inquiry. They guide us through the sales relationship with hints about where and which direction to turn. Everything we can learn or sense about our prospective or existing client, their company, its culture – indeed the whole context that has been presented to us will provide us with signals to guide the response and actions. This is no different than in life itself, but in the field of commerce the context is to explore and move toward a successful exchange of goods, information, and/or services.

When we pay attention to our instincts Read the rest of this entry »

Sunset over Roan Mtn, NC

What is the soul-level purpose of the salesperson? How can we think of our role, our work, in a way that inspires a greater sense of purpose and value for ourselves and society? For me, the answers come through like this…

The role of the salesperson is to facilitate the exchange of goods and services for the betterment of all those involved. Both the giver and receiver must be well served by the exchange. It is the role and joy of the salesperson to discover, evaluate and guide the conversation to a successful, rewarding and loving relationship. It is through the love of the salesperson that the parties are brought together to share in the creation of new possibilities for life as a whole and for society. Salespeople are co-creators in the field of commerce — and it is commerce that provides the environment, the fabric, for mutually-beneficial exchange. What is Read the rest of this entry »

NOTE: This post stands on its own, but it will be more fun if you read Part 1 first.

I spent the first few weeks of the new year clearing out the garbage. Business was slow with budgets not yet released and delayed sales closures. At first, I found myself in a state of disappointment & frustration, but I soon remembered my own maxim: Avoid the do-do. Be in the Being when you do the doing. (Those who have read the Bhagavad Gita will recognize this as an elaboration on Krishna’s advise to Arjuna on the battlefield at Kurukshetra: “Established in Being, O Arjun, perform action.”)

With that reminder, I started having fun with the process, and guess what? Things opened up — energy began flowing and new, healthy leads came to the forefront. The beautiful magic is that true to my past experiences, the new business often comes from the least expected, or even unknown places. This time the magic came in the form of a last day of the month sales cycle that started in the morning with an unexpected opportunity, and closed by day’s end. Universe delivers once again!

Bear gets the garbage

Since childhood, I have been fascinated with watching garbage men engage in their trade, and yesterday was no exception. Even if I am on the phone, when I hear the massive whine of the truck coming down the hill to my end of the street, I turn to watch out my 2nd floor window. The driver & ‘shotgun’ jump down from the truck to transfer the neighborhood’s waste into the truck’s all-consuming mouth. They joke and carry on while they work, oblivious to any social stigma attached to their profession. Pulling the lever, the truck’s jaws compress & swallow our waste into its huge belly. In a blink, they climb back into the truck and charge back up the hill, leaving us with empty bins to be filled for next week’s visit.

What, you ask is the sales lesson I draw from the garbage men? Read the rest of this entry »