One of the best success techniques is to understand how to overcome obstacles.
First of all, if you’re bored talking about overcoming obstacles, I sincerely apologize. But it seems to me that too many salespeople can’t figure out what to do when an obstacle – or an inconvenience – confronts them. Let me give you an example. You all know that when I started selling, I started out in the car business. It can be a cutthroat business to begin with, and it was worse because of a guy named Dan. Dan was another salesman on the floor. At the time, we didn’t rotate “ups” or incoming customers; the rule was that the first person out the door got them. That was encouraged in the car sales training we were going by at the time.
Well, Dan was a big guy, former football player, and I’m pretty sure a bully all of his life. And he was easily the biggest guy on the floor, and he would literally shove or shoulder-block other salespeople out of his way to get to the customers. For his part, the sales manager rooted Dan on for his ‘aggressiveness.’ How to deal with this? Well, I don’t know exactly how it happened and I certainly won’t claim responsibility, but Dan missed an entire Saturday (the best day in the car business) by being in the bathroom all day. Tummy trouble, so to speak; he must have drunk some tainted coffee or something. After that, Dan was considerably more respectful of other salespeople. That’s called “adapting, improvising, and overcoming,” a motto of the US Marine Corps, and it works well for salespeople, too. But what does it mean?
In a nutshell, it means “finding a way to make the right things happen, even when the right circumstances don’t exist,” and I think that’s where a lot of salespeople get lost nowadays. If you’re looking for the “right circumstances,” right now is a tough time to find them. That’s when you’ve got to do some things differently, and that’s when it’s time to take a look at those three very powerful words.
Adapt: The dictionary definition of “adapt” is “to become adjusted to new conditions.” Our profession – selling – is one that is in near constant change, and to fail to adapt is to fail, period. The biggest way to understand adaptation is to listen to what the marketplace is telling you. You might want to build a sales strategy around “whale hunting,” or pursuing a handful of new customers that could do huge business with you. But what happens when the whales don’t bite – or worse, don’t see you? (Yes, I know, we don’t make appointments with real whales – work with me here.) You’ve got two choices – adapt or die.
Me, I prefer adaptation. If one segment of your marketplace isn’t buying, rather than crying in your beer, how about pursuing another segment? If big business isn’t buying, try small business. If vertical A isn’t energized, try vertical B. To do this is to cease to blame others or circumstances, and to take ownership of your own success.
Improvise: Sometimes, a solution isn’t readily at hand. That’s when “Improvisation” comes into play. “Improvisation” means to make up a solution as you go, with the tools at hand. Think MacGyver as a salesperson for a moment. Or think of my example before with Dan. Now, I didn’t have many tools at hand to deal with Dan; my sales manager sanctioned his actions, and although I did try, I couldn’t beat him in a shoulder-block contest. So, again somehow, he came up with some tummy trouble and we all had a great day. Further, Dan got the message. I solved a problem with the tools at hand. Forget not having the right brochure, or the perfect video, or the best case studies; what can you do to communicate what you need to communicate?
Overcome: To “overcome” is to “succeed in dealing with” or to “prevail.” Overcoming obstacles in your way is really predetermined; it’s about your level of commitment to achieving your objectives no matter what – as long as you don’t do anything illegal, unethical, or immoral.
Right now, there are a lot of salespeople who don’t adapt, improvise, or overcome. I talk to them every day in my recruiting practice. Don’t be one of them. When you hit an obstacle, think of the Marines. Or, heck, think of Dan. Then find a way. That’s what professional salespeople do.
