I pulled out of the customer’s parking lot and wondered how I would break the news to our CEO. A long term customer, one of our largest, had just fired us.
The account was on the rocks for a few months as we negotiated a new contract. I was given the account and sent in there to turn things around, and I couldn’t.
How I wished to walk out victorious…The hero.
Now they were getting into bed with a competitor, the CEO’s arch-nemesis, and the ex-employer of many of my colleagues.
So I held my breath and made the call. I delivered the news as directly as I could. I was peppered with questions about how I handled the sales call and the details of where the deal fell apart.
He was in disbelief and kept asking me over and over again for the same details. He was punching numbers into his calculator and trying to figure things out.
I started to question myself. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough; maybe I was confused; maybe the details were not accurate.
So I delivered the facts again, without sugar-coating, just the basic data. And he wasn’t getting any of it.
The call ended abruptly. It was clear I had let him down.
Over time and with some reflection, I gained the insight that it wasn’t about what I did wrong or how I hoped for a different result.
He didn’t want to hear the truth.
Optimism
The majority of salespeople I know are optimistic to a fault. They are enthusiastic, hopeful and confident that what the future holds is good.
Optimism is one of the main strengths of successful salespeople.
It is up to us whether we want to see things clearly or with rose-colored glasses.
Jim Collins, in his book Good To Great, talks about the Stockdale Paradox. Admiral Stockdale was held and tortured at the Hanoi Hilton as a POW in the Vietnam War for over seven years.
When asked who didn’t survive the Hanoi Hilton, he said it was the optimists. Saying that the optimists died of a broken heart reminds me of the verse:
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is the tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12
There is a tension here of holding together two things that seem like polar opposites. For me this means that it’s ok to have your head in the clouds as long as you are fully grounded.
“This is what I learned from those years in the prison camp, where all those constraints just were oppressive. You must never ever ever confuse, on the one hand, the need for absolute, unwavering faith that you can prevail despite those constraints with, on the other hand, the need for the discipline to begin by confronting the brutal facts, whatever they are.”
Admiral Jim Stockdale
How are Your Numbers?
For salespeople, knowing your numbers is the main gauge of truth. If sales are the engine of the organization, then your numbers are the gauges on the dashboard.
These are four types of numbers that are essential:
- Number of Opportunities
- Revenue per Customer
- Conversion Rate
- Speed to Close
These numbers assume activity is not an issue and essentially brings a lot more purpose to sales activities.
Having access to these numbers provides a diagnostic on where things need to improve. If one area is lacking, you can focus and find the activities that will get you more.
Hold The Truth of Reality
A leader who had to face very tough realities was Winston Churchill, who led the United Kingdom during the Second World War.
Here is what he had to see about the honesty of brutal facts.
“There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away. The . . . people can face peril or misfortune with fortitude and buoyancy, but they bitterly resent being deceived or finding that those responsible for their affairs are themselves dwelling in a fool’s paradise.”
Winston S. Churchill
These war-time leaders have much to teach us about not just winning a battle we wage, but also how we can lead meaningful lives.
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You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:32
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