Be Goal Oriented

I continued my conversation with Jay T. McNamara Ph.D. from earlier in the week. While talking to the professional psychologist, bass enthusiast and author of 'The Psychology of Exceptional Bass Fishing" I wanted to get a sense for how he mentally coaches himself and fellow anglers to focus in the face of adversity.

“Adversity is a given,” said Jay. “On a fishing trip or in a sales career, stuff goes wrong all the time. [He chuckled] You should keep track of all that goes wrong in a given month. Maybe some months thirty or forty things go wrong... Maybe it’s a good month if only fifteen things go wrong!” So how do we stay focused in the midst of that adversity?

“First you need to determine what your overarching goal is.” Referring back to the tournament he won at Minnetonka Jay said, “if your goal is to fish that sunken island in three footers all day, you can find a way to do that, [but] your goal should be to win the tournament… People get too focused on what went wrong.” He went on to cite dozens of examples… like the fellow fishermen focusing on the bad weather that day, or people getting stuck in traffic (and not taking a different route), or salespeople getting stopped by a crabby receptionists. “You can get in line [in traffic] with everyone and be pissed off, or you can find another route… you can bitch about that crabby receptionist, or you can think of another way [to talk to the decision maker].”

Step two, after determining your overarching goal, is to decide what to do next. “Do I work around it… do something different… start over or make it worse? I think it was Sam Snead who expected to hit seven or eight bad shots each round. It’s not the first bad shot, it’s what you do next.” The guys who fester in that bad shot will oftentimes make another bad shot. But the guys who aren't phased by one bad shot are often able to gather themselves and make a great saving shot. Back to our example of the salesman talking to the crabby receptionist- it’s not the crabby receptionist that’s the problem, it’s what we do next. If we choose to continually call her we’ll probably only make matters worse. If I choose to complain to my colleagues for twenty minutes about that witch I'm not making things any better and I could be missing an opportunity on the next call- maybe theres a friendly receptionist just waiting to take my call! Remember, my overarching goal isn’t to win-over the receptionist, it’s to sell her boss or the next guy. I need to figure out a way to do that without her.

Remember, adversity is a given, so it's the guy who knows his overarching goal (to win the tournament) and who effectively decides what to do next (catch fish, not to complain about the weather) that wins at Minnetonka!

It's the salesman who knows his overarching goal (to make the sale) and who effectively decides what to do next (sell, and not complain about the receptionist, the paperwork, the territory, etc.) that wins the business!

To order Jay's book, visit www.bassedge.com or call 888-390-8780.

B.A.S.S. Federation Nation members can get a discount on five or more books by e-mailing jay.drfish@gmail.com

Shrink Your Head, Grow Your Catch; Let the Psychologist Lead You to More Fish!

Jay T. McNamara Ph.D., a.k.a Dr. Fish, has quickly become a favorite of mine! Here's a guy who has followed his passions in life, and has taken decades worth of professional psychology experience and recreational bass fishing and twisted them uniquely into another direction in his new book The Psychology of Exceptional Fishing.

Maybe I like him so much because twenty years from now I can see myself writing a book entitled The Bassology of Exceptional Selling! You gotta have dreams. Back to Jay...

When I originally read about Jay's book several things resonated with me- especially with the themes we discuss on this blog. Themes like sharpening ourselves mentally to be at peak performance levels, finding ways to overcome adversity, and staying focused on our goals kept appearing in the articles about the book and his body of work. Since he is now being approached by some tournament anglers to be their mental fishing coach, I knew he would be the perfect person to talk to about improving our sales skills- like a mental sales coach!

Low and behold Jay graciously agreed to chat with me about these themes. What’s even better is that in his professional practice Jay does pre-employment psychological evaluations- oftentimes for salesmen! Who better to talk to about the mental aspect of selling and fishing!

So here's some of what Dr. Fish had to say... (Stay tuned for more blog posts regarding our conversation.)

How often do we become our own worst enemies on the boat or in our careers when we’re faced with adversity?

In response Jay alluded to a recent club victory he had at Lake Minnetonka. “There were three footers rolling all day, and the wind was blowing 40 [mph], so I had to adjust my game plan. I couldn’t fish that sunken island in the middle of the bay.” While Jay accepted the adversity and made adjustments he said that others did not. They were so determined to fish that sunken island that they wasted 3 hours of an 8 hour tournament getting blown around and not catching anything. “People get stuck in a rut,” he said. “We make up our minds ahead of time- like we should be catching fish here.” It’s that rut that kills us. “People don’t read the circumstances and respond.”

What separates the top performers from the rest of us is the “speed and accuracy of which they change.” Jay and I went on to discuss not only the top bass pros, but some of the most notorious top athletes. “LeBron James,” he continued, “is great at this. He doesn’t do what he wants to do, he does what the defense gives him. He has a zillion things he can do, so he can change instantly to achieve his goal.” Go up and down the list of greats- Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Wayne Gretzky, Derek Jeter- all of these guys face different scenarios (challenges) every day and are able to change and react instantly. Derek Jeter doesn’t insist that he’s going to shift left if a ball is hit to his right. We need to do the same thing. We need to stop saying “we should be catching fish here,” and instead see where we can go next- quickly! The kicker is that not all of us have a zillion moves like LeBron. Some of us only know how to catch fish over that sunken island, so we’re afraid to try something new.

If we want to become a top salesman or bass pro we need to continually improve ourselves, so we will have those go-to moves when we are faced with adversity and be able to react quickly and accurately.

Those of us who get stuck in a rut waste a lot of time when we should be changing and reacting. How often do we, as salespeople, insist on doing something our way- only to get frustrated when it doesn't happen? Sometimes we think that being a salesperson means influencing things around us to change, rather than us changing. I would agree with Jay, that the best salespeople are more like the LeBron James' of the world. They can see the entire floor and react quickly to obstacles- taking what the defense is giving us. Maybe that prospect said no, but can I pass a referral on to another colleague? Maybe they said no, but the company across the street is ready to do business? I also agree with Jay that what distinguishes the top performers is the "speed and accuracy of which they change." I have often been stumped leaving a prospect only to think of an alternative after I get into my car. Eventually, if I continue to be self aware of those scenarios, I will build a repertoire of those go-to moves I need to elevate my sales game, and I'll be faster and more accurate at changing!


Change is good! The quicker you can do it, the more successful you will be on and off the boat.

To order, visit www.bassedge.com or call 888-390-8780.

B.A.S.S. Federation Nation members can get a discount on five or more books by e-mailing jay.drfish@gmail.com

Happy St. Patrick's Day

May the holes in your net be no larger than the fish in it. ~Irish Blessing

Case Study: Hiring Fishermen as Your Salesforce

The following fishtale is based on a true story, though our sources asked to be anonymous. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

CEO: "Okay men, in just over a week we'll be launching into the marketplace, so we need to get our salesforce finalized. I've budgeted for twelve reps. That should give us a strong presence in every territory that our competition is in."

VP: "Very well, sir," said the VP of Business Development, "I'll make sure we get those positions filled right away."

CEO: "But you must realize we need very talented salesmen. My business plan calls for a 100% market share."

VP: "Sir, a monopoly? With all due respect most of our competitors have been around for quite a while. How about starting with a more attainable goal, like a 10% market share?"

CEO: "We need much more than that for the business plan to be viable. Trust me, with the right salespeople we can own this space. Maybe not 100%, but we can definitely own a majority."

VP: "Sir, I don't think I know any salespeople that can..."

CEO: "Fishermen! Get me twelve fishermen and we can own this market!"

VP: "Fishermen? But they don't have any experience."

CEO: "I don't need experience. I need passion."

The CEO ended up hiring a bunch of fishermen to grow his business. Two thousand years later this company is still in business and owns a majority of the worldwide market share at 33%, whereas some of the competitors, who have been in business twice as long (or longer), have significantly less market share.

The moral of the story: hire fishermen, they make the best salespeople!


Happy Easter (almost).

Manage to Method not Metrics

Every sales job I have ever had has had its own metrics- a statistical measure of the average number of calls to appointments to demos to closes. I live in a statistics-rich sales culture, where my boss can tell me the number of sales an average rep closes based on a variety of factors- almost to an absurd level, like the bets that are placed on the Super Bowl (I heard this year you could bet on the color of the Gatorade that would be poured on the winning coach!). Without even flinching my boss will rattle off one of these stats... we (i.e. an average sales rep in the organization) average a 23.67% close ratio when presenting to prospects using ABC inc. If we also demo the X-factor to them we're at a 39.71% close rate. And if you've had a Diet Dr. Pepper and schedule that meeting after 2:35 PM our close ratio is 46.93% ... So maybe that's slightly embellished, but the principle is simple- we have lots of statistics, and that's great, but we can't manage our sales from those metrics/statistics.

Why? Because there's "lies, damned lies, and statistics." -Mark Twain

The problem doesn't really lie with the statistics or metrics, but in how they are used to govern our daily selling activities. The problem is that they are averages. According to those averages I need to make x number of phone calls each week and schedule x number of appointments, and then report that activity to my boss. So what happens next? Well, I can tell you from experience that some sales reps go out of their mind trying to make x number of calls and schedule x number of appointments so they can meet their weekly metrics. We get so caught up in activity we lose focus of method.

Can you imagine managing a team of Bass Pros and demanding that they go make x number of casts or drop shot x number of times? That's ridiculous! When Kevin VanDam is fishing I guarantee that he is not focused on meeting a specific number of casts- he is focused on method. He's making each cast in an effort to catch a fish, not fulfill a casting quota. Further, he's focused on making good casts (i.e. casts that will catch fish), not just any cast.

I believe metrics and statistics are extremely valuable, but personal. There are all types of bass fisherman. Kevin VanDam is known as a "power" fisherman, since he cranks out thousands of casts a day, but a "finesse" fisherman may yield just as many fish with far fewer casts. Clearly Kevin's metrics are different than everyone else's, they're personal.

So what can salesmen and sales managers learn from the Bass Pro? Manage your daily/weekly activities to method not metrics. Make sure that each call is a good call and is focused on the net result of selling a quality deal, not filling the weekly report up. As you build your own library of statistics you will know what your own personal metrics are and you can manage yourself and your time accordingly. Until then, stay focused on method!

At the end of the day it's about catching fish, not casting!