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Sales success depends on your words and actions being consistent, and a focus on the "little things."
Spring 2003
Volume I, Issue 3
The Latimer Group is solely focused on helping
executives and sales
professionals develop powerful and persuasive communication skills.
Our programs are customized and specifically designed to create
authentic presentations delivered in the voice of the speaker.
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Your Words, Your Actions,
Your Total Message
Most people have the will to win. Very few have the will to prepare to win.
- Bobby Knight, 3-time NCAA champion basketball
coach
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Most readers of The Beacon are aware of the fact that I spent six years
training for the 2000 US Olympic Sailing Team. During that time, my
teammates and I had a motto that would often get us through the
day-to-day mundane tasks of practice and preparation. We often reminded
each other that "Today is not a dress rehearsal." In the world of
competitive sailboat racing, this meant that every practice session,
every hour in the gym, every piece of preparation was critical to any
future success we would enjoy.
I now spend the vast majority of my time in the equally competitive
world of business, and this motto applies directly to the
coaching and
training I do with clients of The Latimer Group. In a business and
sales environment, every phone call, every meeting, every opportunity to
communicate and demonstrate your value and abilities matters. You need to
be constantly conscious of the impression - both spoken and unspoken
- you leave on clients, prospects, colleagues. everyone.
I find it fascinating that over time, in both life and business, we
re-learn the same deceptively simple lessons over and over again. Success
in today's business world still comes down to some basic fundamentals, and
near the top of the list is your ability to communicate. The way you
present yourself, articulate who you are and what you do, and the way you
communicate with those around you are critical. But success also depends
upon actions to back up your words, and almost always involves doing the
"little things" well.
It is easy to recognize those individuals who are true to their word
and back up what they say with follow-through and execution. However, we
also quickly recognize those whose words are hollow. Many people say the
correct things, but being articulate is not the end of the story. The best
salespeople and most reliable colleagues, partners or service providers
have the correct message and deliver it in an articulate way, with the
appropriate mannerisms and body language. But they also combine this
talent with execution and the intangible ability to sell themselves and
their product or service implicitly rather than explicitly. (See end
note.) At The Latimer Group, we work with our clients on their spoken
message every day. Message, words and delivery are all significant parts
of our work. But an equally significant part of our work is paying
attention to the "little things" that you do to back up the words you
speak. To this end, I share with you a concept that we call Task-Oriented
Selling.
This concept of being task-oriented is simple. It requires a focus on
the here-and-now, on the things you can and should do today, not tomorrow,
that will increase your probability of success. However, like most
good ideas, the difficulty lies not in understanding and embracing the
concept, but in the execution. It means that you take the time to send an
appropriate follow-up letter to your potential client after having lunch
with them tomorrow. It means that you send a piece of research to a client
without asking them to buy something.
It means you refer an opportunity to them, before they do so for you.
It means you implicitly demonstrate that you understand your client's
needs and are not obsessed with forcing a commitment on them. Salespeople
who close constantly aren't just good at closing. They are good at many
things, and the closed deal is merely a culmination of hard work,
effective communication skills and an implicit task-oriented approach.
Remember, everything matters and the "little things" distinguish the
successful from the mediocre. Today is not a dress rehearsal - execution
and success are not accidents.
In any competitive endeavor, such as business or sports, too much focus
on the end result is almost always counter-productive. Clearly it is
important to have an end goal to work towards. However, an end goal is
merely that. a goal. The effort, focus and energy need to be on the steps
immediately in front of you, rather than on the final one that will take
you across the finish line. Many sales professionals spend too much energy
focused on their desired end result of closing the big sale or being the
top producer in the company and not nearly enough time on being
task-oriented and paying attention to the series of steps in the process.
During the six years we trained for the Olympic Team, my teammates and
I had the good fortune of working with some of the best coaches and sports
psychologists in the United States. Early on in our training, I would wake
each day thinking of the Olympics, what a wonderful experience it would be
to qualify and I daydreamed of medal ceremonies. To make a long story very
short, our team's sports psychologist taught me that spending too much
time dreaming about the end result was time wasted. He explained the
importance of focusing on the present and the things you can and need to
do today, rather than on the unformed future. Our performance soon began
to improve, and our team was ranked in the top 10 in the world within two
years.
The task-oriented salesperson spends effort on the seemingly
unimportant parts of the equation, the parts that may seem to go
unnoticed: They always follow up, always execute, always do the things
they say they will do. and more. The most successful individuals have
substance behind their words. Polished delivery and powerful words are
important tools and will always distinguish you from your peers. But what
you say must ultimately be in harmony with what you do.
Our most powerful and telling forms of communication are often
unspoken. And the unspoken is almost always the most honest representation
of who we are and what we do. Remember the old adage that actions speak
louder than words. They do indeed. We may speak with our words, but we
communicate with our actions.
Dean M. Brenner
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© 2003 The Latimer Group. All Rights Reserved.
Dean M. Brenner -
The Latimer Group: 203.265.4344.
Feedback or comments: dmbrenner@thelatimergroup.com.
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