Art of the Possible

During a chance meeting with a family friend (who because of his humility and desire for anonymity shall be known here as TL) I was reminded of what is possible.

TL beamed telling me: “Today is the 37^th anniversary of my American experience.” TL and his family were fortunate enough to be evacuated from the roof of the American embassy in Saigon on April 23, 1975. Because their luggage (1 piece per family member) was blown off the roof by rotor-wash from the helicopter, TL arrived in America with no material possessions. At 16 years old – and not speaking any English – TL began a new life.

Today TL owns a design firm that is to performance apparel what Frog Design is to computers; his sister is the Program Lead for a major defense contractor; his brother heads a global civil engineering firm (his own) that designs BIG infrastructure around the world.

TL and his siblings are living examples of “the art of the possible” – what happens when optimism, ingenuity, drive and opportunity collide.

TL, thank you for all you do; and for the reminder.

Not My Job

“Not my job” are three words I have never heard from a co-worker; and likely never will. For it is every one of our jobs to delight our customers – in every one of our interactions. And, based on customer satisfactions surveys, we do a really good job at this.

Reason being, we have exceptional employees. A recent Inc. magazine article discussed the 8 qualities of exceptional employees. I read this very critically and concluded the article could have been written about our team.

Nice work folks.

Arthur Miller was Wrong

Last summer, a University of Virginia MBA Candidate and Prolifiq intern, said to me: “We don’t really ever study sales. The attitude is: ‘just hand the product to sales; they’ll move it.’” It seems this perception of sales is quite pervasive. Witness what Steve Jobs had to say about his tech brethren who come from a sales background.

Prolifiq Director Dan Brody recently told me: “Let’s put it this way, when I was willing to hit the pavement and call on doctors’ offices my business grew and prospered. When I did not want to do that work anymore, my business stopped growing. I use the web, Google Adwords, SEO, lead services, etc, etc, but the bottom line is if you want to grow, you’ve got to get your butt on the street.”

This week-end The Economist weighed in with an article about how “The death of the salesman has been greatly exaggerated.”

Being a career professional salesperson, I take offense to Jobs’ comments and greatly appreciate what The Economist had to say. In fact, many speakers at the recent Digital Pharma East spent quite a bit of time discussing how they’re building many marketing channels in an attempt to reduce the need for salespeople; however, they recognize that salespeople will be needed long into the future.

I think many of these efforts would be more successful if companies embrace the concept that salespeople are an untapped marketing channel and arm them with the tools and professional development to evolve for the future. The companies’ success clearly depends on it.

At Prolifiq, this is our entire purpose in life – to equip the Rep of the Future. Long may he/she live!

Tagalongs, Thin Mints, and Samoas

Over the last 30 years, I’ve worked with roughly 1,500 salespeople. Most were average performers, many were extremely poor performers, and a very few were stellar performers. These are the rainmakers, those who find and develop business where and when others fear to tread.

Rainmakers are often the life-blood of an organization. They deliver outsized returns by outperforming others by wide margins, and they are very rare. At a previous employer, we analyzed our workforce to try and uncover the common element amongst our own rainmakers so we could identify the best hiring characteristics to predict future rainmakers. Several traits emerged; one of these was fundraising activities in their youth.

I was reminded of this on Saturday, when 9-year old Sally appeared at my door, and had the courage to ring my doorbell despite the NO SOLICITING placard. She nervously introduced herself, and asked if I would like to buy some Girl Scout Cookies. “I don’t know,” I responded, “Give me the pitch.” She told me how the proceeds from their fundraising would help her troop and the National organization. After about 3 minutes, Sally left with a big smile on her face and a big red wagon missing about 25% of its inventory.

What Sally doesn’t know is I have a soft spot in my heart for children with the tenacity to attempt door-to-door fundraising. It takes a lot of courage, a fairly healthy dose of self-esteem, and hard work. I know from experience. I began my selling career pitching peanut brittle and candy on behalf of my Junior High School’s student government association. Many of the lessons I learned remain with me today.

If you are a parent, I encourage you to support your children’s fundraising activities – not by taking their goods to the office and “shaking down” your co-workers, but by providing them the time, transportation and guidance to do the work. If a child comes to your door asking you to support their cause, I encourage you hear them out. Be considerate, compassionate and a little forgiving if they are not pitch-perfect.

You never know, you may be fertilizing a budding entrepreneur – they always need all the help we can give.

The Doldrums