The Sales Guru
Sales Guru is already sitting at his handcrafted oak desk. The sun is pouring in the window just over his right shoulder. It backlights his wild white hair. As before, dressed in all black, he sits there and stares at me. His daunting appearance creates a magical and ominous quality.
* * * *
Finally, he asks me, “What did you learn about yourself?”
All night and early this morning all I could think about was what was he going to ask me and what answers I could provide. This definitely was not the question I expected. As if on cue, the monkey chatter floods my brain.
* * * *
What do I say? What is he looking for? I have no idea what to say.
* * * *
I’m locked in his gaze as he says “This is about you. It’s not about me. Do you remember what I said, when we first met? What works for me won’t necessarily work for you. Each of us possesses a creative capacity, along with all the innate resources we need to be successful. Once you find them, and recognize them, you’ll fire your passion. You are your own master.
“It’s about being all that you truly are capable of. Therein lies one of the challenges—who are you, what are your personal assets? You share the same problem as the Archer.
* * * *
“Yes, and first you need to dig deep and define and then mine what makes you unique. You need to work on…
* * * *
The Sales Guru shifts in his chair and continues, “To be successful, I had to reprioritize some of the basic characteristics I possessed. I learned that we have three basic personality traits. The traits of the champion, the critic, and the brat. At any given time, one of these characteristics can dominate. The goal is to learn how to bring out your champion and control your critic and particularly your brat. One needs to develop the skills to be the champion as much as one can.”
“What do you mean by champion, critic, and brat?”
“Well,” he responds,….
* * * *
“Your journey involved ‘The Five Steps for Professional or Personal Success.’ Or ‘The Five Steps to Get the Sale.’ Each step carries a great benefit. I found that collectively they are my most effective sales tools.”
“The Five Steps?” I ask, “What are the five steps?
* * * *
“’The Five Steps’ are the building blocks that you went through the past few days. They are Engage Mindfulness, Look and See, Listen and Hear, Yes and…, and StorySelling. The first four steps provide you with the skills necessary to blink and quickly assess any situation you find yourself in. They enable you to effectively connect with others emotionally, and finally StorySell.”
* * * *
“It is important for you to understand that each training in itself brings great value. However, they are the ingredients for the magic sauce in the order they were presented. It’s the mojo that gives me my competitive edge- that gets me to close the sale.”
* * * *
Turning to the Sales Guru, I say, “Meeting your mentors or whatever you call them was not what I expected. It’s quite an eclectic group. Yet, I never got a sense that any of them have a strong business background.”
* * * *
Each member of my mastermind group comes from completely different fields outside what most would call normal business channels. The result is we each bring different ideas, and experiences, and challenges. These folks keep me on track. I deeply respect their opinions.”
* * * *
“Does that mean that you will mentor me?,” I ask quite excited.
There was a long pause. I went for the three breaths, but ran into a lot of gibberish instead. Will he or won’t he? I hope he will. He has to. I’m convinced that he can help me.
* * * *
You will learn that when it comes to
Face-to-Face communications,
you are the master of the most powerful
social media tool of all.
YOU!
Copyright© June 2010 by Larry Blumsack
