by John Carroll

Here are 10 insights to selling that came to me recently as I sat in an inflatable rubber tube while floating down a mountain stream:

1. Don’t underestimate the playing field. In the mountains of western North Carolina, if it’s wet and it flows down the side of a mountain, it’s called a river. By size, I would call most of them streams. From a distance, they look harmless and easy. Once you’re in, however, you realize that they’re much more challenging than they appear.

The same holds true in most selling situations. Looking in from the outside, it appears as if it’s only a matter of speaking to a few people who will automatically see the value in what you sell and agree to buy as much or as many as you think they need. There’s a tremendous tendency to downplay the complexity and challenges inherent in the selling and buying process.

Don’t let these appearances fool you. Selling is a tough and complicated job. From a distance, it’s very easy to oversimplify what it takes to be successful and effective. As long as the decision to buy comes from a person or group of people whose decisions are based on the strong emotions of desire to improve or fear of making a mistake, selling will continue to be challenging.

2. Changing direction in midstream is difficult at best. Once you’re in the stream, you realize the current is much stronger than you expect. The only strong indicators of the rushing water happen around the rocks and branches above the water’s surface. Try at any point in the river to move from one side of the stream to the other and you experience how tough it can be to negotiate the change.

In the middle of a sale, a sudden change of direction is also trying at best. This can happen when you have made an errant assumption without having asked the proper questions and fully understood the prospect’s needs. You’re forced to paddle hard and quickly in another direction to keep the sale moving.

Prevention is the cure in this case, where you use your questioning and listening skills to insure you have uncovered the prospect’s needs. There’s no substitute for the basics here. By focusing on getting the full story early in the process, you’ll save a lot of unnecessary backtracking and heartache later.

3. Obstacles are everywhere, many below the surface. It was easy to anticipate and occasionally dodge the boulders that appeared as we approached the rapids. It was much more difficult and painful to discover the hidden obstacles, especially with the derriere positioned in a somewhat uncomfortable and very unprotected spot in the middle of that tube.

Stumbling blocks lay in wait throughout the selling process, many hiding just beyond plain view. They come in the form of decision makers you can’t reach, prospects’ concerns not mentioned, competitors offering faster delivery or better quality for the same price and changes in your sales compensation structure.

Anticipate and plan on the obstacles you can’t see before you encounter them. Remain flexible in your thinking, expect the unexpected and move on smoothly. Treat each obstacle you encounter as simply another item you address along the way to making the sale.

4. Having the proper equipment makes all the difference. My daughter also made the trip and was constantly struggling due to the under-inflated tube she had been given. It caused her to move more slowly, hit more rocks below the surface and generally work harder to make even a little progress along the way.

If you’re working without the proper tools in your selling, you may not even sense the difference it would make to upgrade your equipment. Sales materials such as product brochures, samples and catalogs should be up-to-date and user-friendly. Sales automation is no longer an option but a necessity in this world where technology speeds information to the winner while the second-place finisher is still waiting on hold. As Tom Peters says, "If your sales people ask you to invest in sales technology tools and you refuse to spend the money, you’re already paying for them in lost time and productivity."

5. Be graceful under pressure. Choices presented themselves as we continued downstream. We encountered forks where we had to choose blindly, hoping for the best and not knowing exactly what was in store for us around the next bend.

Selling professionally is a constant stream of choices. You often don’t know what’s ahead of you when you choose to ask a certain question or check the status of a late order. You bring your best selling skills, your best people skills and your best attitude with you every minute of every day. Then you’re ready for whatever the world throws at you.

6. Be flexible along the way. Planning to go right between those two rocks was no guarantee of the same outcome. In fact, getting hung up more than once on those rocks forced flexible thinking on the different methods we could use to free ourselves. We could push off the rock, we could shimmy the tube to one side or the other and we could get out of the tube and move it to continue the trip.

Undesirable things will occur along the way to the sale. You get hung up with people who make decisions slowly, with competitors who undercut your price and with customers who don’t keep their commitments. Stuff happens. Be prepared for the setbacks and you’ll be able to maintain your flexibility regardless of the situation.

7. Always be looking ahead. In the stream, there are always new spots and things to explore. We found some of the finest skipping rocks in the shallow stretches. I found that fallen trees provide the best spots to anchor and rest along the way. The ability to anticipate in the stream made a considerable difference in our ability to get where we wanted to go.

Anticipating your customer’s concerns and desires can put you on the top of his or her list in a hurry. Consider the last time you had to explain your needs to someone repeatedly, just to get the solution to what seemed to you a simple problem. You would have been very grateful for someone who understood and sprang to action after the first explanation. Your prospect wants that same level of understanding, what is referred to in The Discipline of Market Leaders as customer intimacy. When you can sell to your customers on that level by correctly anticipating and filling their specific needs on a timely basis, you’re on your way to creating customers for life.

8. Sell during selling time. In the stream, there’s a time for everything. When the stream relaxes, it’s the perfect time to relax with it. We could enjoy the sunshine and the view. I found myself reflecting on the beauty of nature surrounding us. In fact, it was very hard work trying to move quickly through a lazy stretch of water. In the same way, when we hit the next set of rapids, it was time again to be alert so we could move and adjust as needed.

So it is with selling. Take the time to step back and reflect on your goals, plans, activities and results. Consider what’s working for you and what isn’t very effective. Plan more of the things that get the results you want and stop doing what no longer works in certain situations. Just do these things outside of selling time. If you make your living by contacting customers and prospects, learning their needs and solving their problems, you’d better be doing so while they’re available to you.

I spoke recently at a sales meeting where I learned that one person had finished his calls at 2 p.m. on a weekday to catch up on paperwork. He had opted out of two to three hours of prime selling time to work on a non-selling activity. In that same meeting, I saw an comprehensive written plan from another sales representative with a detailed summary of problems he and his team had solved and the related costs savings for one major account. When asked how he found the time to put it together, he replied that he did it in the evening. Which of the two would you say is among the leaders in sales in this company? You’re right, it’s the one who sells during selling time.

9. Work through the discomfort. As we moved downstream, we noticed that our stream and others would merge. When this happened, the water temperature, which was already below 60 degrees, became colder still. My daughter was so cold that one of her legs shook uncontrollably for the second half of the trip. We discussed the option to stop the trip, get out of the stream and walk along the road to the pick up point. She considered it and decided to finish the trip as planned.

If you’re selling up to your potential, there are many moments of discomfort along the way. When you ask for the order, you’re bound to encounter rejection now and then. When you face the buying committee made up of senior executives and you lack confidence in your group presentation skills, the butterflies in your gut will be fluttering. By working through these temporary situations, you grow and strengthen yourself for the next similar opportunity. By choosing to avoid such opportunities, you limit yourself, your income and your ability to advance in your chosen profession.

10. Stick with it. My daughter’s decision to stay in the stream and complete the course was a tough one for her. When we reached our destination, she had trouble just standing up after two hours in uncomfortably cold water. She may pass on our next chance to tube down a mountain stream, but she’ll always have the conquest of that stream in her list of accomplishments.

Selling is a difficult profession, as was already mentioned. By finding a way to stick it out and learn both from your mistakes and from the example of leaders, you eventually become a leader yourself. You use experience as a classroom and take the lessons to heart, seldom repeating the same mistake. Your pride and determination put you ahead in the long run.

As cold and uncomfortable as it can often be, the stream of professional selling is where many of us make our living. By staying in there, handling the challenges, learning and enjoying along the way, we make the trip and enjoy the rewards awaiting us downstream.

John Carroll is President/CEO of Unlimited Performance, a Mt. Pleasant, SC, firm focused on organizational and individual performance improvement. Brian Tracy International, a worldwide network of consultants, has recognized him for sales excellence. Contact him at 1-800-672-4277 toll-free, email at jcarroll@uperform.com, fax at (843) 881-6746.

© 1999 John Carroll All rights reserved.