What To Do When The Young Outshine The Old And The Experienced

Recently a young woman was hired at our company. In her first month she was the top salesperson in the company. Wow!

Other salespeople are jealous. Every effort is being made to show how many weaknesses she has. In some cases she is even being mistreated. Not cool.

She is young, good looking, smart, a hard worker and most of all, she is very keen to learn everything. With all these qualities put together she has beat out all the others who have a lot more experience than her.

How is it possible? How is it possible for a brand new person to learn so much so quickly?

Here's what she did: She took on a mentor. Not just any mentor, she took on the owner of the company as her personal guide. The owner of the company has more knowledge and experience in the business than probably all of his competitors and salespeople combined.

Next, she listend to every word he said with an alert mind. She absorbed everything...and I mean everything. Whenever she speaks, you can hear the owners words coming out of her mouth. Her every move is a mirror image of what the owner does. This is a good strategy because the owner cultivated his words and actions for years until he found what really works.

She also went through all the literature she could find and took notes. She read every book she could find in the company. She constantly explores what is on the Internet. She went to her sister, also in the same business, and learned all her tricks and techniques. She picked up every magazine in her house and in the company and highlighted areas of interest to her and to her potential clients. Whenever she has a spare moment she goes through the software provided by the company to rehearse scenarios which she could show to her clients.

Based on her readings, she instituted a customer follow-up program with thank you cards and follow-up phone calls to prospects. She started making appointments in people's homes as an added service to her customers. As recommended by the books she read she started shopping competitors and learning from their sales presentations. When she found a product that seemed similar to what she was selling she went to the owner and asked for more information that would help position her product as superior.

When the owner's father came in for a visit, she cornered him for almost two hours on a busy day, foregoing her potential clients, to learn from someone who has even more experience than the current owner, her mentor.

The most remarkable thing I have seen is her ability to actually implement what she learns. In addition to doing what the experienced people taught her, she uses her own good sense and adds to the value she delivers to the customer.

She listens to customers from the point of view of what they are looking for in terms of their needs and wants regarding the products. She also listens to what the customer wants from the interaction with her. For example, in some cases she says that all the customer wanted was to feel good about the decision they were leaning towards. In other cases the customer wants to guidance on the right decision. Yet others simply want someone to bounce their ideas off of someone.

I have seen her take a leadership role in helping and teaching her customers. Her style is gentle and helpful. Her enthusiasm is contagious.

Can you tell I have been watching her closely? Other experienced people have also been watching her and trying to do what she is doing. One of the most experienced people commented to me that he is now closing more sales after being refreshed by this newcomer's enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, not everyone is taking this ambitious new salesperson in a positive light. Some have commented that she is only doing well because she is good looking. I bet these people go into flower shops and get mad at the flowers because they are more beautiful then them. I wonder how many of the above things these people are doing or have ever done?

Here's the bottom line: If a person wants to succeed, all the resources that this person is using are available to them also. It's just a matter of doing what needs to be done. The new, "top dog" in the company isn't doing anything that is new or unheard-of. She is simply doing what we should all be doing constantly, everyday of our working lives.

Cheers to you, my friend. You are an inspiration to an old (maybe not so old), dyed in the wool salesperson who just needs to get off his lazy butt and do what it takes to be successful. I will do what I need to get past my ego and pull myself up to the challenge at hand. I promise to challenge you in achieving greater heights than I have ever achieved. In the process, if you do need some help from me, I offer it willingly, as thanks for your breathing life into my life again.