A Broken Window for IBM By Steve
Waterhouse
It was 7 am when I opened my office door and saw my
boss sitting at my desk. He had just two words for me…
The day before had not gone that well. First, I was
late meeting my local rep, Bill, for breakfast. We
choked down a few eggs and waited so long for the check
that I thought the waitress had gone home. Finally, I
tossed my briefcase in the back of Bill's SUV and we
headed out towards the IBM plant. You've been there, so
you know what happened next. Whenever you are late, the
traffic is unusually bad. As I stared straight ahead,
Bill, who had only been representing us for 6 weeks, was
trying hard not to ruin the day by jumping down my
throat. Finally, we reached the visitors lot with 10
minutes to spare. We both knew the 4 engineers and two
buyers, who had reluctantly agreed to see us, had no
patience for lateness. As I jumped out of the Jeep, I
hit the electric door lock and ran to the back gate to
get my briefcase. Bill said, “Did you just lock the
doors?”
Ok, so I'm an idiot. But how was I to know that in
Texas they don't lock their cars and they leave their
keys on the floor mat! With 8 minutes left to get to the
meeting and my presentation locked in the SUV, I flagged
down the security truck. I was hoping he had one of
those metal straps that cops and chop-shops use to get
into cars in a nanosecond. No such luck. All he had was
a tire iron.
The next few second seemed like slow motion to me. I
grabbed the tire iron and, in one fluid motion, I
smashed the back window, grabbed my briefcase and
returned the tool to the security truck. Bill looked
like… he looked like a guy who had just seen his brand
new expensive toy vandalized in front of his very eyes.
I just started walking to the main building. Quickly!
This stuff happens. If you've spent any time in the
field as a sales rep you have suffered through a
disaster or two yourself. (by the way, I'd love to hear
about yours if you care to send them to me. Let me know
if I can share them.)
I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that Dr. Phil, Dr.
Laura and Oprah all give the same advice: They say,
“It's not what happens to you that matters, it's what
you do about it.” So what's the plan? For me it's a 5
step process that we can apply to our sales lives and
beyond.
First, anticipate potential problems early. Whether
it's the possibility of the demo crashing, four extra
people showing up for the meeting, or a traffic delay on
the Long Island Expressway, it's our job to plan ahead.
Have breakfast near the client's site rather than at the
hotel. Leave extra time for traffic. Double check the
demo system the night before. You'll know what to do if
you think about it.
Second, have a plan B. This is especially true for
the two T's: Travel and Technology. Neither can be
predicted with certainty. I remember Windows 98 crashing
during Bill Gates' demo at Comdex, do you? And who among
us hasn't missed a flight due to weather or the
mysterious ‘mechanical' delays? Bring a spare system for
the demo. Have someone else who can give the
presentation (send the slides ahead via email).
Third, panic early, is my favorite step. Don't wait
until you are standing there in a flop-sweat to decide
what to do. When everyone is in the room and the demo
system is clearly not having a good day, move to your
screen shots in PowerPoint or call the whole thing off
and reschedule. Better that than having your team
looking like the Three Stooges in front of the client.
Fourth: If all else does fail, fail with grace. Keep
your sense of humor, respect others time and move on. If
you anticipated this situation, it's easier to be cool,
or at least fake it.
Finally, remember that the world works on the Law of
Positive Negatives. In other words, the world likes
those who recover well. I've seen presenters who forgot
their lines, get a standing ovation for the way they
handled it. I've seen customers award contracts to sales
people after they recovered well from a disastrous
demonstration. Why? Because we are all human and we
connect with people who are real; like us!
The big thing to avoid is getting trapped in the
Blame Game. That's where we blame everyone else for the
situation and take no ownership. Whenever you do, you'll
find yourself locked in a fight and rapidly moving
further from a solution. That's why I wrote my most
popular book, Ending the Blame Game. I had had it up to
my ears with sales people whining about the factory did
this or my manager did that. Who cares? Not me. Not the
client. Certainly not your boss. The sooner we accept
the blame, the sooner we see ourselves as the solution.
In the end, it doesn't matter whose fault it is. All
that matters is who is going to fix it.
The Blame Game
About my boss… He was sitting there in my chair at 7
am to tell me two words: We won! The buyer had faxed the
order in the night before, after I was already on the
plane home. I was lucky, but I had learned a lesson that
I will always remember.
BTW, Bill never charged me for the car window. I
guess he figured that his $10,000 commission on the deal
covered it. You might also be interested in my article,
"10 Ways to Motivate Your Sales Team". To get a copy,
simply email article13@waterhousegroup.com.
Steve Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse
Group (www.waterhousegroup.com), a sales consulting and
training company that helps companies dramatically
increase their sales. He can be reached at
1-800-57-LEARN or
info@waterhousegroup.com.
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