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A Mission In Commission
by Gerry Robert
There really is a mission in commission. Don Burk, a friend of mine and co-author of the book,
Mission In Commission, cited a young man in Boston a few years ago, Phil Simons, who was a
great example of truly loving what he did, which was selling advertising space.
One very cold Saturday in January, Phil was on his way to an appointment 30 miles north of Boston to speak to the owner of a real estate office about advertising. The previous day, Boston had received 18 inches of snow and the roads were very icy. Phil rounded a curve and a patch of black ice carried him into a 12-inch steel sign post. His car was demolished and very fortunately, Phil was unhurt.
Thirty minutes later, Phil was riding with the tow truck driver as he towed Phil's brand new
car to the dealership for major repairs. The driver asked Phil if he would like to drop him
off at his home and Phil said, "No, take me to a car rental agency."
Phil rented a car, drove to his appointment, and the owner of the real estate company, over
the next two years, became one of Phil's largest accounts. Most of Don's salespeople didn't
work on Saturdays and most of them would not have kept the appointment. Phil was unique because
he loved what he did so much that for him, that was not the exception.
What Don and others are suggesting is for you to literally fall in love with what you do. You
see, what you are doing represents an idea. And when we talk about love, we're talking about
harmony; being in tune.
What we want to strive for is perfect harmony between our conscious mind, our subconcious mind,
and our body in what we are selling. We want to get the idea right into our mind. We want to
fall in love with the idea and then we are going to act upon that idea.
The great psychologist Albert Adler pointed out that "I am grateful to the idea that has used
me up." I can tell you unequivocally that I am certainly grateful to the ideas that are using
me up. I'm on a mission. I could earn money a thousand different ways. Probably a thousand
easier ways than I'm doing it now. There's more to it than money. My career is my mission, not
monetary driven. Now understand, I'm greatly rewarded monetarily, but it's not the driving
factor.
Most commissioned salespeople are so busy attempting to earn income and put out fires that
they never have the time, not the inclination, to really study the behaviour of the real hard
chargers in their industry; those commissioned salespeople whose income falls into six or
seven-figure categories.
The line that separates the real professional from mediocre salespeople is as fine as a razor's
edge. It's the same in everything and commission selling is no different. In studying the pros,
what do these people do that makes them so different?
You are really going to have a look closely, because it's nothing big. The changes you are going
to have to make are not big changes; they are small.
But they will definitely make a big difference.
Ken Butler came to work for Don in 1985 in Salt Lake City, Utah having just graduated from
Brigham Young University. Ken was a tremendous young person - very honest, very diligent in
his work habits and very much believed in the product he was selling.
Ken should have been very successful after his first six months, but he had a serious problem.
When he lost a sale that he thought he should have had, he was very hard on himself. Some days,
he would be in the ditches mentally.
Don presented him with a cassette album of Earl Nightingale's great 'Lead The Field Programme'
with the suggestion that he listen in his car every day to the cassettes and that each month,
he invest in a different programme.
This one idea contributed to Ken becoming one of the highest achievers in Don's 17 years in the
advertising field.
You might ask yourself, "why do they sell the way they sell?". They sell that way because they
are conditioned to sell that way, because they literally fell in love with what they're selling.
They are involved in the mission.
In 1987, Don became a salesman for Equitable Life of New York in Southern California. He sold
personal life and health insurance on an individual basis.
At the end of his first year, his district manager, Joseph Friedman, sat down with him and told
Don that he should be selling much more insurance than he was selling.
Don knew that he had been working very hard and shared that with Joe. Joe told Don that his
problem was not because of work habits. He asked Don to focus on the real reason that a person
would purchase life or health insurance - the protection for their families in the event of
death or serious illness.
When Don grasped this understanding of how he could touch each and every father, mother and
child and possibly be the difference in how they lived their lives, a fire began to burn in
Don's subconscious that he must help every family to understand the importance of being
protected.
Don feels that this was the turning point that made him the receiver of 'National Citation
Award Achiever' for many years.
Top achievers never stop selling. They literally never stop. These people are selling all the
time. It's part of their behaviour. It's like breathing to them. The real professional doesn't
sell because they want to sell; they sell because they have to sell. It's like eating. They
have to sell to live, just the same as they have to eat to live. It's part of their nature.
They don't know how to do anything differently. As Don was sitting in a dental office one
afternoon in Fresno, California, patiently waiting for a dental appointment, a well-dressed
man came in and sat down.
Don began a conversation with him as to his occupation and learned that the man owned an
automobile dealership in Fresno. The conversation, of course, turned to the type of advertising
that the man preferred. A few minutes later, a lady came in and Don learned that she owned two
Italian restaurants in town and was a friend of the automobile dealer.
Don was advised by the dental assistant that it was his turn to see the dentist, and as he
broke off the conversation with the two business people, he set up an appointment with each of
them for the following day. They both decided to purchase advertising space from Don and each
of them was happy to refer other business associates to him. Had he been content with sitting
and reading a magazine in this situation, he would not have created the opportunity of helping
the business people to improve their businesses.
Real professional salespeople sell to anyone who will listen. Anybody or anything that stops,
even close to them, they are going to try and make a sale. That's what top achievers are like.
They sell on planes, on trains, they sell on busy subways, they sell at parties, they sell
every where they go. Herb True's definition of a salesperson is probably the best around.
He said, "A salesperson is a person who is attempting to have their ideas accepted, adopted
or approved." That's exactly what a pro does. Always trying to convince.
They sell because they believe people truly need what they are selling.
They believe the world would be a better place to live if they were able to sell the whole
planet on buying what they sell.
Become obsessed with the benefits of what you sell!!!
EXERCISE
A) Write the names of six people who are the highest paid people you know.
You don't have to know them personally.
- ............................
- ............................
- ............................
- ............................
- ............................
- ............................
B) List what you think makes them so great. What do you admire in them?
- ............................
- ............................
- ............................
- ............................
- ............................
- ............................
C) Make a decision to meet with at least a few of them and tell them
the following. "I'd like to meet with you for 25 minutes. I want to
improve my sales and I know you can help. If you give me advice I
promise I will act upon it immediately and report the results back
to you within 24 hours."
Who will you call first?
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