Did you know that United States Presidents would make excellent sales trainers?
On this President’s Day, I went looking for presidential wisdom on issues critical to sales success. I was not surprised to find many of our leaders throughout history to be absolute experts on the mindsets and psychology underlying successful selling. Here are just a few of the fascinating and powerful concepts I came across:
Our founding father George Washington said, “99% of failures come from people who make excuses.” Think about the successful salespeople you know — they are not the ones making excuses. Rather, they simply do the work and look for opportunities to learn from their experiences. The ones who are struggling tend to spend more time on reasons why it doesn’t — and won’t — work instead of honestly considering what they can do differently to improve.
In an 1802 speech, John Quincy Adams said, “Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.“ In our work — and you’ve probably seen this in your own work — courage and perseverance can make obstacles and objections vanish into the air. When a customer experiences you not giving up, they almost feel like they owe it to you to reward you with business. That’s how rare it is to keep trying to help customers.
In an 1855 letter to an aspiring attorney, Abraham Lincoln wrote, “If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer or yourself, the thing is more than half done already.” It’s like this in sales, isn’t it? If you are resolutely determined to help people, to succeed, and to be regularly present for your customers and prospects, your success is more than half done already.
In 1929, Calvin Coolidge famously said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb … Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” In sales, too, persistence is a superpower. Almost alone, it can make you incredibly successful.
Eighty-nine years later, Bill Clinton said, “It’s how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit.” In my consulting practice, not quitting has gotten me through every difficult challenge I’ve encountered. That’s the thing about quitting — once is enough to end everything you’ve worked so hard for. Conversely, not quitting, is much harder, because it must be implemented repeatedly, over time, forever.
And although not a president, General Colin Powell served as Secretary of State for the 43rd president, George W. Bush, had 13 rules of leadership. The last two are my favorite:
12. Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.
13. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
Sales is a failure profession, right? Nobody — not even baseball players — fail more than we salespeople do. This creates enormous fear of failure for many of us. Thing is, that fear is rarely real. It merely lives in our heads. So don’t “take counsel” of it — it’s not real.
And “perpetual optimism” increases the power of everything. Perseverance alone is pretty good, but perseverance with perpetual optimism means you will continue trying to help your customers, in a positive and helpful way, because it’s simply the right thing to do. You’ll do so over time, even when you’re not succeeding. You’ll do so until, eventually, you will succeed.
And that, my friends, is pretty rare and special.