What does it mean to love your work

Finding the dream job:

The best description I have found around the idea of loving what you do, comes from Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz in their book, The Power of Full Engagement. To be fully engaged (i.e. to love your job), "we must be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned with a purpose beyond our immediate self-interest." (p. 5) Notice how that sentence is basically the same as the sentence I ended yesterday's essay with from Stephen Covey: "I will tap my talents and fuel my passions, in a way that rises out of a great need in the world that I am drawn to by conscience to meet – for therein lies my voice, my true calling, my soul's code."

Another way to say the same thing would be do stuff you love to do (emotionally vested, passionate), stuff you are good at (talents, focus, drive, energy), and stuff that someone will pay you to do (what the world needs.) That is the place to be if you want to be a champion sales professional.

Next week we continue this series with a look at what it means to be 'unique' when selling. ELU to the power of two: Energy, Enthusiasm, Likability, Love, Unique, and Urgent.

Love what you do and know it well

Are you in your sweet spot?:

I believe the champion sales professional truly loves their job. They love the product they sell and the company they represent. Furthermore, the champion sales professional knows their product in great detail. They know the features and benefits of their product and more importantly they are able to find out how the product or service can meet the needs of the client. This does not mean that their job, company or product is perfect, but it does mean that they enjoy their work and that their love for the work overshadows any shortcomings or challenges.

I have seen sales people who sell products in an industry where they don't consider themselves an expert. Some are even very good sales people, because they have what it takes to persevere in spite of the fact that they don't enjoy the  industry. For example, a person who does not enjoy technology, might be a good technology sales person if they have the other tools (of champion sales people) and if they are surrounded by talented technologists who they can lean on for assistance. While this may be okay, it is not ideal, because these individuals are not matching their talents with their passions.

Remember Stephen Covey's quote that I like so much: "I will tap my talents and fuel my passions, in a way that rises out of a great need in the world that I am drawn to by conscience to meet – for therein lies my voice, my true calling, my soul's code."

ELU Squared: Do what you love and know it well

ELU to the power of two

It is time to transition to the bottom row of the ELU Squared selling pyramid and the fourth of The Six Characteristics of the Champion Sales Professional – Love. We have discussed how energy management is the most important of all, because without effective energy management one can not consistently perform at a championship level in the other areas. We have discussed the importance of enthusiasm, and how we can learn 'to speak the language of enthusiasm'. Lastly, we focused on likability in the sales process and the 'old school' philosophy that people buy from people they like. For the rest of this week, we will begin to answer the question, 'Do you love what you do and do you know it well?' More churn on love (and knowledge) tomorrow.

The Dan Plan

The Dan Plan

Yesterday we touched on The 10,000 Hour Rule, the premise behind Malcolm Gladwell's popular book, Outliers: The Story of Success. My photo for that essay was the Westlake (Austin) High School Girls Golf Team, who just took first and third in regional play last week in Waco. They are the defending Texas 5A Champions. Those girls understand what it takes to be successful. They understand each of the keys that we have discussed thus far, when it comes to The Champion Sales Professional: energy management, enthusiasm, and likability. Golf is a great teacher of these skills and we are proud of what the girls have accomplished.

Dan McLaughlin in Portland, OR is putting The 10,000 Hour Rule to the test in his own way. Check out The Dan Plan to see how he intends to conquer golf, starting from a basis of zero and becoming a professional player. As of April 15th he was cruising past 1,400 hours and going strong.

What have you invested 10,000 hours in during your lifetime? That is approximately 5.5 hours a day, six days a week for six years. Have you perfected that skill?

Likability: The 10,000 Hour Rule

Go Chaps Golf - natural sales talent in the making:

Last week we focused on the third (of six) Characteristics of the Champion Sales Professional: Likability. We had some fun looking at the difference in right brain versus left brain selling. We also explored one of my favorite sales quotes, which of course can be applied to anything in life. "People may not remember what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel." I did a little Google research to find out the quote is attributed to Zappos CEO and Founder, Tony Hsieh. 

Before we move on to the fourth characteristic (Love what you do and know it well) let's have some fun exploring the '10,000 Hour Rule' and what it means to a champion sales person. Are you familiar with the 10,000 hour rule? It is the main premise behind Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers: The Story of Success. The idea is that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to really master a specific subject or skill. That is about six and a half hours a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year, for a little over six years.

Energy management, enthusiasm, and likability all need to be practiced, just like any other skill. Tomorrow, I will tell you more about the girls in the photo, and how they are putting all of these skills to use, in their quest for a second straight Texas 5A Golf Championship. We will also look at what an average man named Dan is doing in Portland, OR to put the 10,000 hour rule into practice in his journey to become a champion golfer.

A special Easter post about a very good salesman

From my friend Chad Moore of Dukane:

"There was a young Jewish teacher some years ago who made a statement along the lines of "you'll do well if you value people the way you would like to be valued." I think this lines up well with your [last] post [on likability]. I know a busy executive who always leaves you feeling valued as a friend every time you talk to him, even if its only a couple of sentences that pass between you. That's a gift to everyone he meets and it comes back to him in spades."

Happy Easter. Be likable.

Likability . . . they will always remember how you made them feel

churnOn this: I worked with a talented friend during my tenure at Salient Systems who used to say that a sales call could be summed up this way. "Your client or prospect may not remember what you said or what you did, but they will always . . . always . . . remember how you made them feel." I think this is a great mantra to follow every time you interact with anyone, but especially important when trying to establish and maintain relationships in the selling game.

Likability: Right brain, Left brain, Golden brain

The Golden Brain:

Yesterday, I referenced Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind - Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future. I started thinking about the difference in the right brain (our creative, imaginative side) versus the left brain (our logical, thinking side) and how this applies to likability and selling. I asked my eleven year old daughter if she was aware of the difference between her left brain and her right brain? She told me she recently took a test and the test determined she was both right and left brain dominant, and thus she had a golden brain! Go Lucy!

I once had a business coach who stressed that everyone has a 'heart or emotional side' of their body, versus a 'mind or intellectual side' of their body and that we need to know how we interact with others when we are standing (or sitting) to someone's right versus to someone's left. (Everybody is not wired the same, so some people are prone to react emotionally when on the right, and others are prone to act emotionally when on the left, and so forth.) It is important to understand these differences and to appreciate that we are all wired in our own unique way.

Then there is the common belief that our left brain controls our right side, and our right brain controls our left side. I believe that is also medically correct? So that is a lot to think about when on a sales call, or in a presentation room, or at a business dinner. If you are a champion sales person, you do think about these things (maybe intuitively), because you have learned how to leave people feeling good about you, regardless of whether you are on their left or their right!

ELU Squared – Likability

ELU to the power of two:

Let's begin our focus on the third of The Six Characteristics of the Champion Sales Professional: Likability. I am going 'old school' on this one, with the popular sales expression, "People buy from people they like." There is a new school approach, that says the buying process has changed so much over the past several years, that likability no longer matters.

Some sales coaches are teaching that it is far more important to be the most knowledgeable sales person, or the most prepared sales person, or the sales person with the best product. And, no doubt, all of these things are essential and will be discussed next in this series, under the topic of Love: Do what you love and know it well.

Likability, is a critical soft skill. It is positioned third in the series because it is just as important today as it was in yesteryear. In fact, it might be even more important now than in the past? With the advent of technology allowing the buyer to research companies and products, it is easy to assume that the 'human' side of the sales process is no longer relevant.

I have recently had conversations with several sales executives who agree that the human element is going to be of greater importance in the next ten years, as people realize they don't want their world reduced to bits and bytes. A great source on this subject is Daniel Pink, who writes about it in his book, A Whole New Mind – Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.

Where do you stand on the likability scale? Important to the sales process? More so or less so, in today's world?

Enthusiasm - Top Ten Quotes

Enthusiasm:

Before we move to the third characteristic of the champion sales professional, I had some fun looking up quotes on enthusiasm. Remember, we sell with enthusiasm, not by enthusiasm.

Here's a churnOn Top Ten on enthusiasm:

10. "Enthusiasm – the sustaining power of all great action." - Samuel Smiles
9. "None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm." - Henry David Thoreau
8. "If you are not fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm." - Vince Lombardi
7. "Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm." - Earl Nightingale
6. "There is an eloquence in true enthusiasm." - Edgar Allen Poe
5."Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world. It beats money, power, and influence." - Henry Chester
4. "When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it." - W. Clement Stone
3. "Success is the ability to go from one loss to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
2. "If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm." - Bruce Barton
1. "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Next, we go 'old school' when we begin discussing 'likability' – the third characteristic of the champion sales professional. Likability is something several of the modern day sales practitioners choose not to emphasize. I think that is a mistake.

Finding the true voice of enthusiasm

In our last post, we looked at three (of four) obstacles we all encounter when trying to find our personal calling. Coehlo (The Alchemist) continues with the fourth obstacle, what he calls 'the most dangerous of the four':

"Having disinterred our dream, having used the power of love to nurture it and spent many years living with the scars, we suddenly notice that what we always wanted is there, waiting for us, perhaps the very next day. Then comes the fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives.

Oscar Wilde said: "Each man kills the thing he loves." And it's true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far. I have known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reached their goal–when it was only a step away.

This is the most dangerous of the obstacles because it has a kind of saintly aura about it: renouncing joy and conquest. But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here."

Remember this series is titled, The Six Characteristics of the Champion Sales Professional. This is not the characteristics of the average sales person, or the bored sales person, or the sales person who-fakes-enthusiasm sales person. This is about what it takes to be at the very top of the sales world. My friend Jim Blanchard wrote to me and said, "Remember the key is selling with  enthusiasm, not only by enthusiasm. Not all buyers buy enthusiasm." And I think that makes the same point that Coelho so eloquently describes in his introduction. When we are living from our personal calling, we have contagious energy. We have enthusiasm that shows in all we do, all we say and all we are. It is too simple to say that we must be enthusiastic about what we sell. That is a given, and like saying a good quarterback must have excellent foot work or a good golfer must have a good grip.

We now understand that the champion sales professional knows how to manage their energy (mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual) and also strives to find their personal calling, so that they can master the language of enthusiasm. These are the first two keys.

Next, we will move to the 'L's': likability and love. Remember, ELU to the power of two or ELU Squared.

Enthusiasm - the four obstacles

The journey to enthusiasm:

If you are not selling with enthusiasm, then you may need to consider what Paulo Coehlo calls 'our personal calling', in his best selling book, The Alchemist. As we discussed previously, following one's personal calling can be scary stuff. It takes courage to confront our dreams and line up our passions with our talents. Why?

Because there are four obstacles that get in our way. Quoting from the introduction of the book, on pages vi-vii, let's look at obstacles one, two and three now and then continue with the final obstacle in the next churn.

1. First we are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fear, and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it's still there.
2. If we have the courage to disinter (good word) dream, we are faced with the second obstacle: love. We know what we want to do, but we are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that those who truly wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on the journey.
3. Once we have accepted that love is a stimulus, we come up against the third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path. We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn't work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: "Oh, well, I didn't really want it anyway." We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and that the path of the personal calling is no easier than any other path, except that our whole heart is in this journey. We must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how.

Coehlo then ask this thought-absorbing question: "So, why is it so important to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people?" And he answers:

Because, once we have overcome the defeats–and we always do–we are filled by a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. Each day, each hour, is part of the good fight. We start to live with enthusiasm and pleasure. Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our soul, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.

Are you selling with enthusiasm? Do you have the courage to disinter dream? Are you ready to face the fourth obstacle?

Enthusiasm - the second key to successful selling

Are you filled with enthusiasm?

In Paulo Coelho's international best selling book, The Alchemist, we learn that there are four obstacles we all must overcome in order to truly find our personal calling. In the introduction to the book, Coelho is asked the question: What is a personal calling? He responds, "It is God's blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend."

He then adds this key sentence: "However, we don't all have the courage to confront our dream."

Working from the top of the selling pyramid down to the next level, in order to be a champion sales person, we must be filled with enthusiasm. Having learned to manage our energy, we can now move through life in a way that says, 'Hello world, I am on the path I am meant to be.' While I recognize that finding this path is not easy, I can assure you that it starts at the top of the pyramid and an understanding of managing our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual energy.

Next, let's look at the four obstacles that Santiago, the shepherd boy, faces in his journey and see how very early on, he learned to speak the language of enthusiasm.

We are oscillatory beings

Are you flat lining life?

I want to spend one more day on the importance of energy oscillation, before moving on to the second characteristic of champion sales people–enthusiasm. I love this quote from Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, on page 30, of The Power of Full Engagement.

"We are oscillatory beings in an oscillatory universe. Rhythmicity is our inheritance."

More from page 30-31, called The Pulse of Life:

Nature itself has a pulse, a rhythmic, wavelike movement between activity and rest. Think about the ebb and flow of the tides, the movement between seasons, and the daily rising and setting of the sun. Likewise, all organisms follow life-sustaining rhythms–birds migrating, bears hibernating, squirrels gathering nuts, and fish spawning, all of them at predictable intervals.

So, too, human beings are guided by rhythms–both those dictated by nature and those encoded in our genes. . . . Our breathing, brain waves, body temperature, heart rates, hormone levels and blood pressure all have healthy (and unhealthy) rhythmic patterns.

Oscillation occurs even at the most basic levels of our being. Healthy patterns of activity and rest lie at the heart of our capacity for full engagement, maximum performance and sustained health. Linearity, by contrast, ultimately leads to dysfunction and death. Just picture for a moment the undulating wave form of a healthy EEG or EKG–and then think about the implications of their opposite: a flat line.

Are you successfully oscillating your energy?

How is your energy meter reading?

This week we have been talking about the number one characteristic of a champion sales person: energy management. Once we master our energy, in each of our human capacities (mental, emotional, physical and spiritual) we can then tackle the other five keys to successful selling: enthusiasm, likability, love, uniqueness, and urgency. Without mastering our energy, we will fail as a salesperson, as we will eventually break down and succumb to the rigors of our faster and faster moving world.

There are two keys to successful energy management. The first is to understand that we build mental, emotional, and spiritual energy in exactly the same way we build physical energy. The question I like to ask to make this point is this: Do you seek stress or do you avoid stress? If your goal is a more productive physical body, then we all understand that we must 'seek' stress in order to build strength and endurance. But we must also build in periods of rest, in order to let the stressed muscles recover and strengthen. So we intentionally and purposely stress the body, and then we rest the body. The same is true when we want to grow our intellect on a specific subject, or when we want to expand our emotional capacity, or when we want to grow spiritually. If we don't purposely expand outside of our comfort zone, then we can not grow.

The second key to successful energy management is building regular rituals into our lives, so that we routinely 'oscillate' in and out of each of the capacities. A regular workout routine, a well-planned nutrition plan, a weekly meeting with a group of friends where you can talk openly and honestly, a morning devotional time, meals with the family, meals with co-workers, walks with a spouse or loved one, games with the kids. These are all examples of 'rituals' that can be built into our routines in order to assure that we are a champion oscillator.

• How do you do with energy oscillation?
• What does your energy meter look like in each of the four capacities?
• If one area is overloaded or under stressed, how can you build new (and needed) rituals into your life?

Managing energy, not time, is the key to high performance

Energy oscillation is the key:

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, in their book The Power of Full Engagement teach that managing energy (not time) is the key to high performance. Listen to the first paragraph of the book:

"We live in digital time. Our rhythms are rushed, rapid fire and relentless, our days carved up into bits and bytes. We celebrate breadth rather than depth, quick reaction more than considered reflection. We skim across the surface, alighting for brief moments at dozens of destinations but rarely remaining long at any one. We race through our lives without pausing to consider who we really want to be or where we really want to go. We're wired up but we're melting down."

Successful selling, maybe more than any other profession, requires a complete understanding of energy management. Energy management is an entire science in and of itself. We can't do the subject justice in short blog posts, and thus stress the importance of studying a book like the one mentioned above. Another great read, with very similar teachings is Stephen Covey's book, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. Reflect on these two sentences, the first from Loehr's book and the second from Covey's book:

"To be fully engaged, we must be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned with a purpose beyond our immediate self-interest."

"I will tap my talents (mental capacity) and fuel my passions (emotional capacity) in a way that rises out of a great need (physical capacity) in the world that I am drawn to by conscience (spiritual capacity) to meet - for therein lies my voice, my true-calling, my soul's code."

Tomorrow we will focus more on the word 'oscillation' and the importance of moving in and out of each of the capacities, and learn how we build emotional, mental and spiritual energy in exactly the same way we build physical energy. When we understand this, and put rituals in our life that allow us to rhythmically move in and out of each area, we can then (and only then) succeed in the other key characteristics of successful selling.

Why energy is so important

Digging deeper into our series on what it takes to be a champion sales professional, we have to start at the top of the pyramid with an understanding of Energy. Over the next several weeks, we will be churningOn the Six Key Characteristics of Champion Sales People. I call it ELU squared or E-L-U to the power of two: Energy, Enthusiasm, Likable, Love, Unique, and Urgent.

Like everything in life, to be a champion, you must understand the difference in managing energy versus managing time. Time management is way over-rated. Energy management is very misunderstood. Each of the other characteristics of a champion sales person simply can not be accomplished without first learning to manage your energy. I believe the best body of work on this subject comes from Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, authors of The Power of Full Engagement and founders of The Human Performance Institute.

Without being an excellent manager of your energy (mental energy, emotional energy, physical energy, and spiritual energy) you will not be able to be enthusiastic, to be likable, to be lovable, to be unique, and to be urgent. Let's just leave it at that for today and go deeper into the butter maker tomorrow, when we discuss why 'oscillation' is the key to high performance.

ELU Squared: The Champion Sales Professional

William Patton McDowell Jr:

Regardless of where you are in life or how you earn a living, you can benefit from the Six Characteristics of the Champion Sales Professional. This is the introduction to my series, named ELU Squared or E-L-U, to the power of two. This series is dedicated to Billy McDowell, my grandfather. 

From my 'Poppy,' I first learned about sales. I spent a lot of time with Poppy when I was a child, riding in his Oldsmobile, talking on his rotary-dial 'car' phone, flipping through his presentation materials, learning the fundamentals. Poppy would say, "A good salesman always has a pen . . . listen more than you talk . . . and remember son . . .

what's behind the door, 

I am not sure, 

but this I know 

and know it well, 

the more I open, the more I sell."

The Six Characteristics of the Champion Sales Professional are:

• Energy
• Enthusiasm
• Likability
• Love
• Unique
• Urgent

The High Calling of our daily life

If you are a fan of churnOn.com, then I believe you would enjoy knowing about The High Calling. "The High Calling is an online magazine and community founded on the belief that God cares about our daily work. On the site, you will discover a broad range of articles, interviews, devotionals and inspirational stories - all specifically created to help you find God in your work, family and broader culture." 

The online community is the brainchild of Howard E. Butt and The Laity Renewal Foundation. I have recently added The High Calling badge to my blog. I like to start my days with Rev. Mark Roberts, who is Sr. Director and Theologian in Residence at Laity Lodge, where my kids go to camp every summer. His blog posts can be found at the bottom of the home page, but don't miss the other featured articles as you scroll down. I commend the site to you.