Back in 2020, I wrote an article on which I’m now doing an update based on fresh information that I’ve collected. First, some background. Lifelong sales learner that I am, I’ve always been a voracious reader of selling books, posts, blogs, podcasts and the like. But over a long sales career, my best and most memorable insights have come from first-hand experiences involving real colleagues and real clients – direct experiences both good and bad. So, four years ago, I had the idea to put Brad Paisley’s country hit, “Letter to Me”, to work from a sales standpoint. In the tune, as a wise adult, Brad recalls his youth and gives advice to his 17-year-old self on challenging issues. He gives guidance in areas like relationships, education and other topics that vexed his youth. He provides practical advice like “I wish you’d study Spanish” and “I wish you’d take a typing class” and other pragmatic suggestions based on his experiences over the years. So, you probably see where I was headed. I thought that it would be powerful to hear from experienced sales professionals offering gems of wisdom gained from years of hard-earned lessons to their younger selves.
In my sales life, I’ve been truly fortunate to get to know countless people – colleagues, friends and clients. Birds of a selling feather, of course, flock together. And while that’s likely true of all professions, I’ve found that the amazing adventure of lives in the selling safari leads to more camaraderie and friendship than other more “traditional” occupations. Sales is not for the faint of heart and it forges common bonds and experiential badges of honor. From my amazing days at Xerox, Capgemini, Sandler and now in sales consulting, I’m thankful to have gained a large selling flock – people whose experiences have taught them and changed them, their lessons learned enhancing both their professional and personal effectiveness. Books, blogs and podcasts aside, I thought it would be really powerful to gain from this dynamic group the messages they would sincerely share with themselves as young sales reps. So, I contacted 300 or so of my selling friends and asked for two insights that they would give to their younger selves. Counting on the fact that sales reps love to talk, I was confident that my ask would generate a lot of feedback and I was right. I was surprised, though, that many respondents asked for additional time to ponder the request. Evidently, the flock took it seriously.
So, hundreds of sales professionals from across the globe representing different verticals, roles and customer bases responded. And what advice did they most often offer to help their younger sales selves be more successful and to sleep more soundly at night? What was the most cited gem of wisdom? A killer closing technique, an account growth strategy or a relationship tip? Not even close. The most popular piece of advice? Listen. That’s it – listen. And not surprisingly, there was a lot of similarity in the way the responses were structured. Those who toil in the same arena tend to learn the same lessons from the same types of experiences. Makes sense.
Regarding the #1 tip, as you might guess, much focus on listening focused on how doing it well dramatically increases your chances of learning, especially when the customer is talking. And huge importance was repeatedly placed on the vital connection between listening and understanding. “Understand”, it was advised, is an active verb that earns you the right to know whether or not you can help a prospect address their pain. Without it, you’re flying blind. With it, anything is possible. And with it, younger selves were promised, your likelihood of success in selling is greatly increased. For that matter, as was often mentioned, so too are your chances of success in life in general. I told you the flock took it seriously.
So, in rolling the calendar forward over those four long years, I recently asked my flock to update their feedback in a mass email ask. To simplify things, this time I reached out only to those who responded the first time and as a result, I again received very strong participation from the group, all now familiar with the “Letter to Me” theme. Outside of discovering quite a few inactive email addresses and some sad news of some friends who have moved on, the feedback was perhaps not remarkably dissimilar to 2020. While there was more mention of technology, the most prevalent advice to younger sales selves was the same. Listen. Listen to understand. Listen to learn. Listen to help.
Not being an expert in surveys or the canvassing of information, I’m sure there are some things I could have done differently to be more scientific in this process. But that’s not what I was after. At the end of the day, I achieved my goal of getting a real update from real selling people as to what matters most. As a result, I hope that sharing that feedback delivers value to one and all. For whether the update was after four years or forty, the top choice would likely be the same. Take it to heart. And listen.
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