by John Carroll

Working in the yard is a form of relaxation for many people. It often provides a sense of balance and a slower pace to offset the hectic world of business. It also offers a place where I can step back and get a different perspective on work and life.

Here are some reflections from nature’s presence in our backyard with applications to the world of selling:

1. Seasons change – There is a season for everything under the sun. In our yard, vivid signs of each season provide continuing reminders of the cycles of nature. In fact, as the years pass, I seem to appreciate fully the impact of the current season at about the same time that it begins changing into the next.

Selling has its cycles as well, sometimes just as predictable as those of nature. When we prepare for and appreciate the cycles for what they afford, our results reflect it. For example, we open a new customer or client account, much as the blossoms of spring. The summer that follows provides a hot selling season. Autumn comes as the initial orders begin to mature and we seek opportunities for additional problem solving in the account. Winter marks the end of certain relationships for a myriad of reasons, some outside of our control. Customers move, their needs change and they look for help in new directions.

How do you make the most of the cyclical nature of your sales? You help a new account blossom properly by understanding needs thoroughly and giving the new relationship its best possible start. You "make hay while the sun shines" by focused, hard work in the high volume buying periods. You continue to uncover problems to add value to the existing relationship. You allow for the often unforeseeable end of certain relationships by getting referrals to replace what goes away.

2. Leaves will fall and weeds will appear – Our yard is just large enough for both of these occurrences to be more than obvious. The leaves from the oak trees require several removal sessions each winter and spring. (There are periods where the dropping is so voluminous that it sounds like rain.) The weeds take over the flowerbeds unless and until they are pulled out of the ground. For me, these are usually unpleasant tasks with pleasant results.

Just as the leaves fall and the weeds appear to flourish, so, too, there are unpleasant situations that require attention and work in selling. Many sales professionals view paperwork and reporting as necessary evils and tend to procrastinate until the last minute. This can cause loss of selling time and problems with the sales team leader or manager. Just as the leaves, these tasks don’t go away until they’re addressed and completed. Just as the weeds, these matters require attention to prevent them from growing into uncontrolled problems that can choke the day-to-day efforts of selling.

Take time along the way to maintain the non-selling responsibilities of reporting and save yourself the time and trouble of explaining late or non-existent reports. Better yet, send your selling performance to the top of the charts and see how many of those reports helped you get there and how many you can be excused from as a result of your superior results.

3. Use the proper tools for the job – Our yard is full of live oak and spreading oak trees. They tend to sprout new growth, known as suckers, on the tree trunk. These suckers can rob the nutrients necessary for the growth of the more distant limbs. After learning the importance of trimming these from the trees, I noted that they can be a challenge to remove. Then I found and began to use a tool that telescopes to a length of 15 feet to clip the offenders. This single tool allowed me to do the work and get the same results faster and more safely than I could otherwise, without the services of a tree maintenance firm.

If you’re selling without the tools you need to do your job effectively, you’re losing ground to others who have the proper tools helping them do their work. If you’re still using the old tools because you’re unwilling to invest in better, more efficient tools for yourself, be ready to watch others run past you. If you’re waiting for someone to buy these tools for you, you need to decide that You, Inc. should enter the new millennium with the right tools to do your job. Invest in yourself by getting the tools you need and learning how to use them to the benefit of yourself and your customers.

By the way, if you’re struggling with the challenge of changing the way you do business or updating the tools you use to conduct business, read the business best seller Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D. This is the finest 94-page business book I’ve seen and applies in virtually every situation where change is considered the enemy.

4. Admire the results of your work while you can – Any work in the yard, from mowing to raking to pulling weeds has a positive outcome, albeit short-lived. One of my most satisfying activities in the yard is when I pause to take in the look of a freshly cut lawn or a beautiful flowerbed. I enjoy that moment while I can because I know the grass will grow, more leaves will appear and the weeds are simply hiding below the surface until I turn my back to them.

Selling often provides a similar period for admiring one’s results. Once you have the order from a new or existing customer, stop and appreciate what you’ve sold or the relationship you’ve enriched. Beside the financial rewards, this is why many people enjoy the sales profession. If you strike that pose of admiring your work and freeze in that position, however, you quickly fall behind and find that there’s more work to be done. Basking in the warmth of positive outcomes in your selling just doesn’t last long.

5. Prepare the soil – The finest plants and flowers, even the hardiest of seeds will fail without the proper soil as the basis for their growth. The soil provides nutrients and ongoing support for the vegetation and channels available water to root systems. My father-in-law, the green thumb of the family, takes great care with the soil before his flowers or shrubs ever touch the ground.

Preparing the environment for the sale and growth into additional business is critical to the growth of any lasting relationship. Preparing the soil for sales includes doing your homework in advance to avoid wasting the new prospect’s time with elementary information easily found in a company’s printed or online promotional materials. There is more background information readily available about prospective customers than there has ever been. As a result, you have fewer excuses than ever to do the advance investigation and be at least somewhat versed in the challenges your prospect faces before you face your prospect.

Once you have a handle on the basics, you enrich that soil through the use of good questions to uncover the prospect’s key needs. By focusing on desired results of the prospect, you show that a relationship with you and your organization is the right place for the prospect to set roots and grow with your help.

6. Plant the seeds – This includes seeds and bulbs, planted at the proper depth and in the right location to get the right amounts of water, food and sun to nourish them. The attention put into this phase goes a long way toward determining the quality of the plant or flower’s life cycle. The plant can even handle a certain amount of adversity, provided it has been given a good start. We know from coaching and experience the spots in our yard best suited for the survival of the plants, flowers and shrubs we want to add.

Planting the seeds in sales involves several items. First, planting the seeds that you’re the person and organization with which the prospect wants to do business can come from that prospect knowing the results you’ve been able to accomplish with your existing clients or customers. Testimonials letters and a list of client references can and should be offered as proof that you’re well worth the investment others have made in you.

Effective planting also involves making sure that your customers and prospects know the various services you provide. You can do this in a number of ways. One is to have such a strong relationship with your customers that they always ask you first about any need in an area even remotely related to your type of business. When this happens, you get the opportunity to understand the need and begin to deliver the solution yourself or be the resource that connects a provider to your customer’s need. Another method is to consistently remind your customers of the various products and services you provide. It’s a service to them to know they can count on you for additional help and save the time and effort required to locate another provider.

In our sales improvement work with one of the top life insurance and financial service companies in the United States, we found that the company’s clients were using an average of only 1.7 of the 15 products this company offers. This condition can stem from an overemphasis on cold-call prospecting and a lack of asking for referrals from existing clients, suppliers, friends and associates. It also happens when you don’t cover the basics of making sure that your customers are aware of all services you provide, not just the one or two they happen to use currently. Remember that the best, most profitable and least expensive business you can find is with your existing customers. Plant the seeds where they’ll grow the fastest and the best by getting all of the business you can from your current customer base.

7. Water for growth – Ongoing attention to newly planted flowers and bushes is critical. It’s obvious to most people that watering the area properly will encourage growth and insure the vitality of the vegetation. As with many regions, we tend to experience prolonged periods without proper amounts of rain. If we don’t supplement by watering periodically, we see the results in brown grass, dried shrubs and withered plants.

Continuous attention to newly opened accounts, assuming that they’ll remain loyal customers while you direct your attention elsewhere, is just as important. Those first few days, weeks and months are critical to the growth of the relationship and the customer’s perception of value added. Even after the relationship has grown and matured, regular "watering" through passing along articles of interest from business and trade publications, can go a long way toward the proper maintenance and growth of the relationship. Sending business to your customers also serves to enrich and strengthen your ties with them.

When applicable, find ways to buy from your customers as well. A word of caution here is that you may find it difficult to make waves or deliver constructive criticism of the service you receive when your customer is providing the service. Make it clear with the customer in advance that you want to do business with people who do business with you and that you’ll expect to be treated as well as any of their existing customers. Make it an opportunity for new insights into your customer’s business, perhaps with the opportunity to provide additional solutions to improve critical success factors.

8. Take time to enjoy it – Put your tools down, turn off the garden hose, take off the gloves and simply enjoy this little piece of nature known as your yard. Kick a ball with the kids, toss a Frisbee with a spouse or neighbor or simply sit and appreciate the view. Stand in the yard full of spring blossoms and inhale the aroma of nature’s beauty. Eat that tomato fresh from the plant right in the middle of your garden as my father-in-law does. There are few simple pleasures that compare.

Do you enjoy the fruits of your selling or do you tend to continually procrastinate - yes, procrastinate - in the celebration of your sales results? Just as managers are encouraged to reward and celebrate when their teams or team members get outstanding results, so, too, should sales professionals reinforce and reward themselves for the wins. You can be the top performer in any sales organization when you stick to a reward schedule that fits the accomplishment and work to get those rewards. These can be as simple as a fresh cup of coffee after five dials in prospecting and as elaborate as a self-funded vacation for beating an annual sales and income goal. This particular form of self-management can set you apart from your competition, helping you stay focused and on track while others lose sight of their goals and drop their high result activities.

9. Know when to take a break – Momentum in yard work can kick in at the strangest times. For example, I can be mowing the lawn or picking up the leaves when darkness begin to fall. Because of that momentum, I’ll often work up to the final shred of available daylight, knowing that shutting down now and gearing up again tomorrow will require additional time without generating the desired results. My wife sometimes tells me I’m tough to get started and even tougher to stop.

Working into the darkness in the yard is nearly as ineffective as selling past one’s point of productivity. Knowing your own energy levels and working to get the most of your own personal productivity is a tried and true method of success for top sales professionals everywhere.

One example of working while you’re most productive is using your prime time, both internally and externally. Your internal prime time is when your focus, energy and effort are at their peak for the task at hand. Your external prime time is when your customers, your boss and your team members are available to help you reach your goals. Ideally, you want these two to overlap for at least part of your selling day. This way, you have your best levels of energy, attention and problem solving ready for your customers when they’re ready for you.

The flip side of this coin is to save the low-production times of your day for more mundane tasks such as opening the mail and checking your messages. Setting these types of tasks aside for the ebbs in your energy level gives you something productive to do at virtually every minute of the day. If you’re an early bird and tend to do better work before noon, schedule your more difficult tasks in the morning. Likewise, if you’re a late starter and gain energy as the day goes on, schedule the challenges in the afternoon whenever possible. Know when to take a break and use your energy and attention levels to your best advantage.

10. Resolve to go at it again tomorrow - Our yard will most certainly require more work tomorrow or the next day, even if only to pick up stray leaves or pull a few weeds that cropped up since the last weeding. I find that doing a little each day enhances the overall look of the yard and sometimes lessens the need for those daylong projects.

Back in high school, long before I knew that sales and marketing was going to be my life’s work, I took to heart a saying that adorned the family room wall of my best friend’s home. His father was a sales professional and proud of his accomplishments. The plaque simply said, "Selling is like shaving. If you don’t do it every day, you’re a bum." Do a little everyday and be proud of your accomplishments along the way.

Take a look at your own "yard", both in life and in selling. Consider what’s best for both and make it a point to get the best results from each. Your customers, your yard and even your neighbors will be glad you did.

John Carroll is President/CEO of Unlimited Performance, a Mt. Pleasant, SC, firm focused on organizational and individual performance improvement. His approaches have attracted coverage globally, most recently in the April, 2000 issue of Chief Executive China. Contact him at 1-877-755-8844 toll-free, email at jcarroll@uperform.com, fax at (843) 881-6746 and on the Web at www.uperform.com.

© 2000 John Carroll All rights reserved.