You might think I’m sick and demented, but I’m sitting on the beach South of Cancun on the Mayan Riviera writing my sales article for this week. The Caribbean Ocean is crystal clear with a light blue and turquois color. The coral sand is shimmering white and the consistency of flour. The waiters, patrolling the beach, make sure I don’t go wanting for my favorite beverage. Life is great. To quote my good friend Marshal, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
The week we will spend on the Mayan Riviera is an incentive trip for 23 of my clients, wives, significant others and employees. They have all worked hard, created excessive profits for their employers and earned this trip as a reward for their performance. I must admit, it is a bit distractive to take in this magnificent beauty and try to make sense of my thoughts while pounding the keys of my laptop.
Through his efforts to learn and practice improved sales skills, Jon from Robert Love Heating and Air Conditioning increased his performance by 151% over his previous years average. He told me the experience was life changing as he not only increased his income, raised his standard of living, but made some significant changes in his personal life. All of the principles that Jon learned can be applied in every aspect of his life. He has learned that when the correct principles are applied, he can accomplish.
Scott, with Wheeler Machinery, was reassigned to a different sales division within the company. In addition to learning a new product and service, he was enrolled in a year long sales training and coaching program. His was an ominous challenge to learn and apply both product knowledge as well as perfecting his sales skills. Scott was given a goal based on what his predecessors had achieved. After one year of training and coaching, Scott’s performance was 191% of his benchmark. He is enjoying this fabulous week with his wife and two daughters.
The temptation to jump up, run across the powdery beach and dive into the water is almost more than I can stand. That will be my reward when I complete this article.
Robert has spent his career in operations for the Halverson Company. Most of his time has been in the field, managing projects and people. After a career of hard physical labor, he was given the opportunity to manage the department and to generate sales. This past year he has learned that selling, even though it is vastly different from operations, is hard work. He was benchmarked against the performance of another employee who had been selling steel fabrication work for several years. Robert did not see results for several months, although he became a student of sales, learning and applying the principles and skills he was learning. He completed his first year with a 189% increase over his benchmark. His life will never be the same having learned new skills and demonstrating that through effort and discipline he can achieve more than he ever dreamed possible in his new career. Robert and his wife are enjoying a dream vacation all because of his outstanding performance. By the way, in the first three months of the new sales year, Robert has already achieved 70% of his new goal that was set at five times his previous goal.
Jon, Scott and Robert are my heroes. They have demonstrated what we have seen time and time again. When you work hard at applying the correct principles and skills of selling, you can accomplish goals that others can only dream of.
I’m enjoying a fabulous day on the beach with my wife, employees and clients. We all work hard and then we play hard. To say it is worth it, is an understatement. Sales is the greatest career in the world. It doesn’t get any better than this. I’ve got to run, I can’t resist the turquois water any longer.
