Otis on "Self-Discipline"

I just read a Targeted Journal from one of the Sales Managers we work with and wanted to get this out of my head. I don’t expect this to make perfect sense, but please, bear with me. I sensed a few things, none that I could put a finger on, that both the manager and his team might be “getting smarter than the process” when it comes to asking for the money.

The best running backs in football “trust” the play that is called. Each play is designed to achieve a certain result; to reach a particular spot on the field. The best running backs trust that it will produce the results that it’s designed to produce, and they execute the play with that belief. When they improvise on their assignment, or trust their instincts instead of the play, they reduce the possibility of the play’s success.

Not that improvisation necessarily nullifies the play, but the greatest of athletes will always trust the play FIRST… and then improvise only if the play breaks down or if it reaches the designed spot on the field with the runner still standing.

We can’t let our sales team get used to improvisation as a way of life. Let’s make sure that we discipline ourselves to trust the system first; before we allow ourselves to improvise.

Remember that we ask for the money “so we can take the bike off the market” so we can take the bike off the market. We need a method to confirm his buying decision, and to let the customer know that we believe he has indeed made a buying decision. If at that point he has NOT made that decision, the act of asking for the money will either a) compel him think about whether or not he is indeed ready, possibly resulting in a buying decision, or b) he’ll let us know that he is not ready to buy.

Either result is a good one for the salesperson who is focused on helping the customer to buy. Asking for the money is NOT designed as a slick trick to force somebody into a buying decision. Often the fear of that is what causes guys to improvise and not ask for the money. Once the salespeople understand, believe and operate with the right understanding of process, asking for the money at the right point in the process becomes the best next right thing to do for the customer.

In reality, this may get us an increase in “today” buying decisions over the course of a year, but more importantly, it is consistent with the environment of customer service that we’re trying to educate our customer about. All of our language, our policies, and our actions are congruent in that they are all designed with the intention of rendering it easier to buy from us than it is from the other guys.

So have I written a column here, or did I just produce an unintelligible rant?