A Crucial Lesson My Manager Taught Me
If I were to ask you what is the most important tip, technique, or strategy you learned in your sales career, what would you say? I easily remember the one I learned at the beginning because I remember it almost every day. In fact, last week I read a story about Gary Emanuel, the defensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts, and I was reminded of the first lesson my sales manager taught me, which was: never give up, because the next phone call you What you do can change your day or your career.” This is what happened to Gary:
Earlier this year, Gary wasn’t working in the NFL. Over the past 31 falls, he had been your typical football official, working on 10 college teams (including Plymouth State and Purdue) and just one professional team (49ers, 2005-06). Gary’s dream was to return to the NFL, but no team was knocking on his door to interview him. So what did he do? He took action and began cold calling…
Call after call resulted in nothing more than the typical, “You can send us your resume,” but he kept calling. Finally the General Manager of the Colts, Ryan Grigson, arrived. Grigson told Sports Illustrated’s Peter King:
“He cold called me.” Grigson texted me (Peter) after the 17-14 win over Cleveland. “Getting (Emanuel) was like finding money on the street. We had all kinds of great recommendations, and after Chuck (Pagano, the head coach) and I met with Gary, we didn’t even want to talk to another DL coach. .”
How’s that for a successful cold call? Now I’m sure Gary, like you or me, was put off by all the other calls he made to teams that turned him down. I’m sure he got tired of sending him his resume and calling back only to hear the same old dismissive: “Oh, we’ll get back to you if we’re interested.” I’m sure the phone was hard to answer after a while, and I bet there were times when he thought about giving up. But he persisted and made the next call. And look what that persistence resulted in for him.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been calling and calling (both as a sales rep and sales consultant) and how much I’ve wanted to just quit. But I always remember what my manager taught me about how you never know what the next call may bring. And because I made the next call, I have a lot of stories of my own, and I can tell you now that many of my biggest clients came because I was willing to keep calling. In fact, this is one of my favorite results:
Years ago I decided I wanted to try and get a Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30 Year Anniversary patch for a new authentic jersey I had purchased. I didn’t know anyone on the Buccaneers, so I did what I’d been taught to do: I started cold calling. I first searched the official website of the team and found out who the head coach was. Using the techniques I teach and write about (being polite to the goalies by using ‘please’, being presumptuous and using instructive statements – I got to the training room and was told that the coaches and team were in their final training sessions for preseason off site and that I needed to call back in a few weeks.After several more calls to the department, I finally spoke to the head coach, but he told me that he was too busy preparing for the season now and that I could try again at a few weeks. I did. When I called him back on the phone, I explained what I wanted and he said he’d see what he could do. He wrote down my name and address and I waited.
After a couple of weeks, I still hadn’t received anything. Now, many people might have given up by then and thought that just passing was victory enough. I do not. I kept remembering what my manager had taught me, and I kept remembering all the good results he had achieved by being persistent and continuing to cold call. So I called again.
By then the season had started and the Buccaneers were winning. The coach already knew my name and he was getting used to my call. At that point there were a few things to talk about besides the patch. This time he again took my name and address and seemed to be paying more attention as he did so. A week later, I received a package from the Buccaneer practice room and when I opened it I found two jersey patches, one home and one away, and a complete set of helmet-sized Buccaneer flag stickers. It was a pretty good package. So what did I do? I kept calling.
After a few more weeks and a few more wins, the coach and I developed a friendly relationship. When I explained that he would be flying to the 49er game in a few weeks, he said something that changed my experience as an NFL fan. He asked me if I would like to work as part of the coaching staff and help out one of the sideline coaches for that game. I can tell you now that this experience was one of the best moments of my life!
I arrived in San Francisco the same day as the team, and that night I went to the team hotel and met with the coach and he introduced me to other coaches and team members as they walked through the lobby. He gave me an official coach’s jersey and cap (which I still have), and a game-day coach’s pass and parking pass. The next day I arrived at the stadium at 9:30 am when the first bus of players and coaches arrived. I went through the player gate and into the locker room and spent the whole day as a Tampa Bay coaching staff! I don’t have time to recount all the memorable experiences I’ve had, like slapping Chris Sims on the shoulder after his first NFL touchdown pass or a fiery Jon Gruden’s memorable postgame speech, but believe me, it was an incredible experience. . . And all because he was willing to keep calling.
I remember that experience and many other successful and unexpected calls and results even today when I have to cold call. I remember my first sales manager teaching me the importance of being persistent no matter what and the value of making the next call, or the next 100 calls. I am reminded of this lesson when I read stories like Gary Emanuel’s, and am constantly looking for similar stories about the rewards of persistence and never giving up. And I always find them.
Today, as you face a day of cold calling or prospecting, I hope you, too, remember the crucial lesson I learned all those years ago. That no matter how discouraged you get when cold calling or prospecting, never give up, because the next phone call you make could change your day or your career.