MENTOR ME - Part Two

There's an old Mexican proverb that says, "One must learn how to lose before learning how to play." If I hadn't met Neil Bennett, the founder of Shamrock Companies, this proverb might have been nothing more to me than meaningless words. Neil taught me that losing was the first step in learning how to win in the game of my business life: sales.

You may not believe this, but I was a raw, shy kid when I started working at Shamrock. Neil helped me learn and develop a winning sales style. But not before I had racked up my share of losses.

Mainly, I was poor at sales because I was uncomfortable making face-to-face calls with potential customers. I was losing more sales than I was winning -- maybe, less than a .250 batting average in my early years. But, Neil showed me how to learn from my errors, and develop an inner confidence that got better with each success.

Neil said that first, I should learn everything about the products we sell. He taught me to know each product backwards and forwards -- what it does and what it's capable of doing, before selling it to a customer. Neil said, "Once you have personal confidence that you understand the product, you will have the confidence to go out and meet with customers. And once you meet with customers, you have to learn about each customer and his or her and problems and requirements."

Neil was like a benevolent dictator. He made me work hard, but encouraged me along the way. I learned to make sacrifices and promises that were sometimes hard for a shy kid to keep. But, his mentoring paid off. Once I knew everything there was to know about the product, and once I understood the needs of my customers, I was able to find my confidence, and gain the confidence of customers. I became a partner to each customer. Not just a salesman interested in making a sale, but a trusted business associate who would help solve my partner's problem.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT... I learned from Neil that a good salesperson, or a good leader / entrepreneur / business person /spouse (you name it, because in one way or another, we're all "in sales") is someone who understands that negotiation is all about win/win, and that a win/win strategy will create an unbreakable bond between a salesperson and a customer. Even today, I continue to apply Neil's instructions to help me understand and lead Shamrock, our employees, and our customers.