Write Today, Right Tomorrow

Salespeople and Bass fishermen are alike in many respects, especially when it comes to patience, or lack thereof. People don’t often associate impatience with fishing, but that’s only because they’ve never seen a fidgety bass pro cast a couple hundred times in an hour, or speed full throttle to a spot about 200 yards away. Salesmen are guilty of the same mentality. “I want something to happen now, otherwise I’m moving on.”

Therein lies our issue with “paperwork.” Why the heck would we want to waste our time doing paperwork when we could be out there catching fish or making sales? We simply aren’t wired with enough patience for paperwork.

Truth be told, the very best anglers and sales reps have a dirty little secret; documentation (a.k.a. paperwork).

Going back to a conversation I had with Jay McNamara he noted that “the best anglers keep logs, and the very best transfer those logs to a computer database.” It may not seem important on the face of it, but over time our memories fade, but “a written record doesn’t lie.”

As Dr. Jay describes on bassedge.com he is in the habit of documenting as much as he can about a day of fishing- his own catches, locations, weather, water temp, lure types and colors… he’ll even document what others will share with him. Like after one of his first tournaments when he heard he could find bass in a particular bay where there was hard stemmed cain reed and bull rushes with a mixture of vegetation. He scribbled that in his notebook… years later, because of those notes, he was able to find that particular spot AND the huge bass that were in it!

Jay suggests “keeping a notebook on hand and after a sales call writing down every single thing you can remember.”

In essence, all of this paperwork and documentation is like mapping. We’re capturing information today that will remind us where to go, and what to do, tomorrow… and the more detailed the information is, the more powerful it can be. Maybe we closed a challenging prospect... or maybe we had a prospect say "no" for a particular reason. Whatever the case may be, tomorrow is a new day and the more information we have about our prospects the better of we are.

In my own sales experience I have also learned that all of this documentation not only helps the prospecting and selling phase, but the implementation phase as well. The more notes I have on a new client, the smoother the transition goes... and the happier the client is. Hmmm....

It can definitely be a time consuming task, but the more we write today the better of our fishing and selling will be tomorrow. If bass pros can take the time, in between 3000 casts a day, to write down a few notes, I suppose I can take the time to make some notes on the few meetings I conducted.

Stick Out From the Crowd: Be Remembered in a Good Way

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of talking to Dr. Keith Jones, the Pure Fishing scientist and bass sensory guru. He also happens to be the author of one of my favorite bass fishing books, Knowing Bass. As one can imagine I was pretty psyched to be talking to such an expert.

We discussed bass' feeding habits and their sensory systems, but one of the most fascinating things I learned was that bass have really good memories!

According to Dr. Jones bass will remember certain types of baits/lures if they have had a bad experience with them and begin to avoid similar looking baits. How long will this avoidance last? "If the bass gets a good look and creates a good memory trace it could remember at least three months, if not longer... [bass memories are] similar to mammals. To some degree they may remember for the rest of their life," Jones said.

It's actually beginning to scare me how similar bass fishing is to selling! All this time I thought it was just a metaphor, and now I learn that bass remember negative experiences and avoid certain baits!

Memo to all salespeople: Quit creating negative experiences for my prospects which create avoidance behaviors and roadblocks to my sale!

The fact that bass and prospects pattern their avoidance behaviors after negative experiences is only natural. It doesn't matter what you sell- I'm sure at some point one of your prospects has had a bad experience with someone, or something, in your industry. In my industry the top two negative experiences my prospects have had with salespeople are 1) being over-sold or promised that something could be accomplished when it couldn't and 2) experiencing a rocky transition to their current service provider. If a bass can hold a negative memory for life, imagine how long those prospects will hold on to that feeling of being burned by a salesman!

Obviously these experiences can have a negative impact on me as I'm trying to get in the door to make a sale.

The impact may not be great in a huge market, but if you're selling in a small territory or community it could be detrimental. Dr. Jones cites that "in a closed system, like a farm pond... [the bass] eventually stop responding to that type of lure."

So what can the salesman and the bass pro do? Distinguish yourself. If you look like and act like every other salesman you're just going to be another salesman... and people hate salesmen! (Usually). If you're throwing the same pumpkin colored jig at them that every other angler is, you're not going to get the strike response you want.

This is where you can make your money on and off the boat. If you can reach into your tackle box and determine which color will be different-enough to draw attention on that particular day, on that particular body of water. And it will vary. If you, the salesman, can determine which angle to use on a given prospect in a particular region. The key here is being in tune with market trends and knowing what you can do that's different and better.

If you can effectively do this and then go on to create a positive experience for your prospects and clients you will be remembered in a good way! This goes back to the age old philosophy that it takes a lifetime to build trust but only one moment to loose it. Bass and prospects may be willing to forgive, but they may never forget!

Thanks to Dr. Jones... stay tuned for more posts from our conversation. If you wish to buy his book you can find it online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Borders... OR he will send you an autographed copy (signed any way you like) if you send a check for $16.95 to:

Dr. Keith Jones

Pure Fishing

1900 18th Street

Spirit Lake, IA 51360

The Little Things You Learn Today Will Add Up to Big Success!

Dr. Jay McNamara (a.k.a. Dr. Fish) had spent a considerable amount of time talking to me a couple weeks ago, and I'm still thinking about all of his great points. There are so many psychological themes he applies to bass fishing that also apply to selling! We can certainly gain a lot from his experience in the chair and on the boat! My copy of his book has since arrived in the mail, and I'm really enjoying it! It's really a blueprint for becoming better at almost any aspect in your life.

Here are some of the things Jay had to say about becoming a Top Performer...

What separates the top performers from the rest of the pack?

According to Jay “the distance [between the top performers and the rest of the pack] is small, but made up of a lot of little things. Take LeBron, for example. He and Ben Wallace may not have a lot of measurable differences [height and weight], but LeBron can do a lot of little things better than Ben Wallace and cumulatively that adds up… some of those things we have control over. In sales, the guy who calls a customer back within an hour versus the guy who calls back within a day… or three hours. Over time that makes a difference.

To become a top performer Jay recommends the following exercise:

Pick 6 people who know their work and ask them to suggest 3 things you could do better. Of those 18 responses pick 5 and commit to work on them. Over time those little improvements will add up! Put the plan in place and you will be significantly better in twelve months.

"Salespeople can get feedback easily from their peers and managers," but as Jay mentioned “Fishing Pro’s don’t [get feedback] but need to!” Ahh… maybe that’s why Jay’s in such demand now!

I might agree with Jay that salespeople can get feedback easily from peers and managers, but argue that they often don't! I know many a sales rep that knows everything already (of course I am always open minded and accepting of critical feedback- okay maybe that's a stretch!).

What type of mentality do top performing salespeople need to have?

According to Jay (and, after all, he does pre-employment psychology screening for sales reps) he says there are two key dimensions.

“First, poise under pressure… Resilience in the face of adversity…the understanding that ‘no’ means ‘not now.’ Think about the bass pros. They cast maybe two-to-three thousand times a day for maybe eight bites! It’s the same in sales… handling that constant rejection. That resilience… you either have it or not.”

Back to his win at Minnetonka, Jay caught ½ of his limit in the first half hour of the tournament, and then went 6 ½ hours without a thing. In the final hour of the tournament he caught the rest of his limit. How often have you made a bunch of sales and then nothing? It can feel like an eternity and pressure begins to mount! That resilience is necessary for a top fisherman or salesman!

“The second dimension is an openness to learning. A drive to improve. You have to be passionate about learning. Think about Tiger Woods. He’s already the best in the world, but look at what he does in the off season. He’s constantly trying to make himself better.”

What’s the one thing that every salesperson and bass pro should do to be successful?

Keep calling. Keep casting.

The biggest mistake Bass Pros make?

The biggest mistake people make is “they overestimate what they’ve got. They exaggerate their skill set… their knowledge. Most of the top guys are pretty humble, Like Kevin Van Dam. They don’t act like they know more than they know… there is difference between being confident in who you are and thinking you can do anything.”

The risk, Jay continues “is that if you overestimate what you’ve got, it shuts off your brain and stops your thinking. If you’re sure you can do it, you’re not open to what’s around you.”

The top guys are confident, but remain open to the possibilities around them.

In conclusion...

My conversation with Jay was awesome, and I think these themes are pretty important to bettering ourselves professionally and personally. If we have an openness to learning then we can accept some feedback and choose a few little things to work on. Over time those things will yield great(er) success for us. But if we think we know it all already, we run the risk of shutting our brains down and not seizing an opportunity to learn a new valuable skill.

Remember, Carpe Diem is not "Fish of the Day." Take advantage of this day, seize this opportunity to become better, and you will enjoy long and prosperous adventures on and off the boat!

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