subject: Ode To The Onion [print this page] Bringing about positive change in sales organizations, managers and people has been my life's work as a sales educator and consultant. While my content has always been about sales in one way or another, my actual work itself has always been to create change. So, I've made creating change a focus of study for nearly three decades. During that period of time, I have assembled a set of principles and practices that I use to assist change in client interactions.
You're not a trainer, so why would you be interested? As a serious professional, you share the need to change and improve and grow to continually improve your performance and develop more completely as a human being. If you are a serious professional, there should be a question which endlessly comes to mind. And that is, "How can I change and improve myself so as to be a better provider for my family and contributor to my corporation?"
Skip the superficial answers. I'm interested in exploring the deeper, let's call them spiritual, answers. Let me explain. We have layers and layers of complexity and substance to us. On the very surface are our communications with other people - our clients and prospects. These interactions are often shaped and directed by the sales tactics we've learned along the way. This is the person that our customers see. For example, you may ask a customer a series of good questions. That series of questions is a tactic - the very surface of who you are. Over a period of time, if you develop that technique of asking questions effectively, you've created a skill. Notice that is a slightly deeper issue. That's important. In the bigger picture of everything that you are, it's the most superficial part of your being.
Just peel each layer off of the onion, and we go deeper into the person that we are. Just beneath the surface are the strategies we design, the goals we set, the habits we have built up over time, and the ways we go about doing things. For instance, let's say you ask your customer good questions. That's a tactic on the very surface of your being. It's where you interact with someone else. The reason you ask questions, the motivating force that underlies your use of that tactic can be one of a number of things. Perhaps it arises out of a strategic plan you created to learn more about your customer. The strategy was the deeper motivation that gave rise to the more shallow tactic.
You may have even developed a goal to ask four questions during the course of the day. In that case, the goal was the deeper motivation. Peel off that outer layer, and we'll find, at the next deepest level, our attitudes. You've heard many times about the importance of a good attitude. That's because your attitudes give rise to your goals and your behavior.
Being burdened with a pessimistic attitude, you won't set meaningful goals or aspire to great accomplishments. The opposite is also true. When you have positive, optimistic attitudes, you naturally aspire to challenging goals, and that leads to energy and positive behavior. If your attitude is positive, you'll feel like you can positively influence a prospect. That positive attitude can lead you to creating a goal and developing the strategy that you'll need to achieve that ambition.
