Well, you have to identify a baseline. It’s the same as like, if you’ve got a baseball player who’s batting really poorly, right? They’re batting less than 100, and they have to go back to the fundamentals and to their baseline because the only way that a person’s going to hit the ball is if they’re doing the fundamentals, right? So, they’ve got to do their stance make sure that’s right. They’ve got to watch the ball, and then when it gets thrown at them, they got to swing at the right time. Just three fundamentals, and it’s not about hitting a home run. It’s not about getting on base. It’s about the fundamentals of what you’re physically going to do because if you’re trying to get a hit and you’re not doing the fundamentals, you’re less likely to get the hit.
2- Go Back To The Fundamentals
So, for sales, I would say it’s the same thing. It’s like, well, what are your fundamentals? Fundamentals for hitting are going to be different depending on the batter. When I played baseball, I had a problem where I would pull my head a lot. What would happen? I wouldn’t hit the ball. You cannot hit if you are not doing all the basic things. Well, my coach was really smart. He could see that I just needed to be reminded of the fundamentals. He helped me do this thing that was really embarrassing to help me remember what I needed to do. He would put my shirt in my mouth so that I couldn’t turn my head. That is what was holding me back from hitting the ball. This simple check of all the fundamentals helped me figure out what was going on and take it back to the basics so I could become successful at hitting. You have to address what is going on.
Look at the steps you follow in your sales and see what is happening in your process.
3- Find The Fundamentals You Are Missing
But, not everybody had the problem with pulling their head right. Some people had a problem with dropping their elbow and so they need to keep their elbow up, right? So, you need to ask yourself- What are your fundamentals that you are missing? Go back to the fundamentals when all else is failing. You have to go back to the fundamentals because that’s what will get the hits. If you are not following the fundamentals of sales, the more that you try to get a hit the less likely you are to to actually hit. It is all because you stopped doing the fundamentals. I had this huge realization last week at a boot camp where we trained these high-level sales techniques. A lot of these guys were new and I literally had to stop myself halfway through the event to cover the basic fundamentals. We had veterans of 10 years there and some new guys that have been here for 3 weeks. So, I taught them 3 fundamental closes and 3 fundamental one-liners to overcome any objection.
I noticed that we were missing the basics. I love the profiling, mirroring, psychology, and all because I feel like I am past the basics. That stuff is fun, but it doesn’t work if you still don’t have the basics down. I think back to my days of selling consistently, and I had many days where I was in a slump. Those are the days where I’m like, dude, just go back to the script. I would have to stop trying to be fancy willy-dilly, you know? And it is hard because we like to get creative. We get bored. We’re ADD. Like, I’ve been saying the same thing a hundred times today and you just want to mix it up and wing it.
Then all of a sudden, three days later you’ve kind of forgot your basic fundamentals because you’re trying to get all frilly. Which is fun. I look at sales like a dance or like poetry. You know, it’s still words, but why is poetry so much more fun to listen to? It is because it’s it’s so eloquent with the words and how they’re placed and the pace of the way that you say the poem, you know what I mean? I look at sales very similar. But, when I get all poetic and try to get all fancy is when it’s like fetch, you’re right, I just need the option to close. Do you want this or this? Cash or card? You know what I mean? It was time to get back to the fundamental and the easiest close you can think.
4- Have Fun
But, this brings up something really important. The importance of fun is valuable. If you’re playing any sport, you don’t want to just run drills. There is always a time and a place for a scrimmage or playing a game, right? I think that it’s important to allow space for fun and games as long as you’re coming back to the basic fundamentals. It is such a simple thing. If you get bored on the doors, then go play. Go try to do some weird stuff, but do it for like the next five doors, right?
Then, come back to the fundamentals for the next ten doors. Find a way to make it fun.
Figure out what works for you, but have a place to return. The problem is that people get bored, and then they go and do the fancy stuff for three days, and then they forget what’s going on. It’s because they haven’t come back to the basics. It’s like playing all the games in sports without ever running any of the drills. You’ve got to play against opponents. You have to do the hard stuff but also allow yourself some time to have fun.
