In the beginning…
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I want to dig into our book Shiftability and extract some key points for your consideration over the next few weeks. Let’s start at the beginning of this whole journey for many of us…. The story below is a direct extract from the manuscript of Shiftability so you will see the third-person perspective in the writing….
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In the beginning, there were people who made stuff and people who needed stuff. Then there were the peddlers of stuff who helped the makers and the buyers find each other.
The peddlers of stuff were very successful for hundreds of years because the makers and buyers needed them. Stuff was bought and sold and everyone was okay.
Then things changed.
That Was Then …
It was a typically warm and sunny Arizona day. The cloudless blue skies seemed to go on forever as Mitch drove across the desert out of Phoenix on one of his monthly sales trips to Las Vegas. This time was a bit different. Mitch’s usual mode of transportation was his bright silver Audi 5000T. This day he was behind the wheel of a bright orange and white rental truck from U-Haul.
The two-ton box on wheels was loaded front to back and fully to the ceiling with high tech data. But this was not data as we think of it today. This was technical product information contained in hundreds of copies of technical documents, printed and bound in books from various manufacturers. These were called data books. In the technical sales trade, they were almost as good as gold. Electrical engineers would go to almost any means needed to get their hands on their favorite manufacturers’ data books.
And Mitch had an entire truckload of them.
He was on his way to a government contractor in Nevada. This was a tough account to get into to talk with even just a few of their thousands of engineers. But Mitch had found that if he set up shop in the parking lot with a truckload of data books, over a couple of days nearly every engineer in the company would come out to visit him. They could pick and choose from any of the dozens of manufacturers that he represented and take any data books they needed. All he asked was that they grant him access at a later date. Through Mitch’s semi-annual book drive he built one heck of a contact Rolodex.
This was 1977 and the electronics industry was in its infancy. Apple Computer had just incorporated, Star Wars had just opened and set new records, and Elvis had just left the building. At the time Mitch was a Field Sales Engineer working for Wyle Electronics, one of the largest distributors of electronic components in the industry. They represented and sold semiconductors for Motorola, Intel, Fairchild, and many others. They also sold a variety of electromechanical products like connectors and switches and passive products such as capacitors. Wyle represented the best of the best.
In these early days of the electronics industry, a salesperson working in the distribution world was viewed as a great source of information. Customers eagerly welcomed sales reps whether they were bringing in data books or doughnuts. At that time the only real source of technical product information was the printed material that the various manufacturers created. There was no Internet. This was a time known as BCP (Before Cell Phones). Electronic messages between companies were sent through a system called a TWX or a Telex. Fax machines were just becoming real. The human was the primary means of conveying the realities of the fast-moving electronics industry.
Every Monday night after work Mitch’s sales team would meet with various manufacturers over pizza and beer and hear all about what wonderful new technologies and products they were about to bring to market. They would check out the new technical literature and sometimes they would even score the ever-elusive “sample” that they could deliver to a really important client.
Life was grand and the role of sales professionals had maximum meaning and purpose. They were the kings and queens of data. Not just data, but data everything. They had data sheets, data books, data libraries, and data brochures. They had copies of advertising, which was just more data. They had product data, solution data, reliability data, and eventually, data CDs.
Not only did sales reps have all of the data known to the technical world, but they also had free products they called samples. They had samples to hand out for specific client projects, they had sample kits, they had product sample packs and solution sample packs. They even had product demo boards, product evaluation kits, and full demo system solutions. They had development systems and emulation tools. And even more importantly the sales rep had CONTROL of it. It was theirs to gift to their favorite clients, theirs to spread out, move around, and use to build relationships.
Sales reps also had control of the feedback on the use of the products and samples. They controlled the communication to the client and the communication back to the manufacturer of the products. The sales rep had it all – all the data, all the products, and all of the control.
That was then …
This Is Now …
Flash forward to today.
The electronics industry is thriving, the Star Wars franchise is still going strong, Apple is one of the premier companies in the world, and today the sales professional is on the verge of leaving the building.
We are no longer the kings and queens of data. Our customers do not need us to bring them information. They have the Internet for that. A revolution of massive disruption and disintermediation is underway.
And this changes everything.
And since its creation just 4 short years ago, and considering the Covid world changes we are making, Shiftability has become more critical and timely than ever! The premise of the work is that the world has changed greatly….have you. It's time to shift into a new reality that challenges our limiting beliefs.
There is a new urgency to figuring out how to stay relevant, how to stand up and push back to return the sales conversation to value with the right people, and to discover how to operate in today’s economy.
The landscape of selling has changed dramatically and it continues to change rapidly. How do you navigate this uncharted territory? How do you chart a course through this changing landscape? You have to learn how to shift …Shift into different abilities.
Shift onto a new plane of performance.
Shift into a deeper understanding of the value and your role in creating it.
Shift into a new mindset.
Shift into a new skillset.
Most of all, you have to be willing to shift and choose to move forward, even though the way is not clear. You have to cultivate shiftability.
We will dig into the specifics of how…. As we take this journey.
If you want to get the answers sooner, feel free to buy a copy of Shiftability from Amazon, knowing that ALL of the profits of the sale of the book go to a great charity… Charitywater.org. We are helping to provide water sources to those places in the world that do not have good ones.
Ok. So, let’s ROLL!
Mitch
BE-DO-HAVE
Are you playing to win, or are you playing to not lose?
Are you playing along, or are you looking to disrupt?
Are you playing it safe, or are you pushing boundaries?
Today we see more people being careful to not rock the boat than ever. Let’s not push the envelope, seems to be the COVID method. We are ALL looking for safety, sanity, and an assurance that “it will be alright”.
Well….. STOP IT! We cannot make what we have gone through disappear. We cannot make the hurt go away. It will not just magically become “alright”.
We can however choose to take action into creating a new future for each and every one of us, and all of those that we serve.
We MUST choose the mindset of playing to WIN… for ALL involved.
We MUST choose to DISRUPT the current thinking that has us stuck in the mud.
We MUST destroy the boundaries we perceive that have us frozen in our tracks.
Actually, human beings are wired to do what we believe. We act out of our sense of purpose and what we do is a result of what we believe. If I believe that I can make a sale, I will do all the work that is necessary to make that sale. If I believe that things are going to get difficult, then things are most likely going to get difficult. We become our own self-fulfilling prophecy. We create our way of operating from our way of believing.
Mahatma Gandhi described the thinking challenge like this…
Your beliefs become your thoughts,
your thoughts become your words,
your words become your actions,
your actions become your habits,
your habits become your values,
your values become your destiny.
If you are afraid, then you are going to act and do things that a fearful person does. If you are hopeful, then you are going to act and do things that a hopeful person does.
So we need to shift our order of operations from believing that if we do certain things, we will then be able to have the things we want or need, and then we will be successful (DO-HAVE-BE). If I only work harder, then I will have more stuff and I will be happy. Instead, we need to adopt the order of Be, Do, Have. What we believe about our world and ourselves in the core of our being, determines what we will do, and ultimately the results we will have (BE-DO-HAVE).
So it starts with believing in the value that you co-create with others, including our clients, who have the ability to make a difference for them. It starts with believing that to create that outcome we must understand “others’ deeply, and we do that because we care about them and their world. We believe in serving others WITHOUT reserve, and that creates a better world for all. And all of that drives toward achieving our stated purpose (more on purpose another time).
CARE greatly,
UNDERSTAND deeply,
SERVE endlessly, with
PURPOSE
Reverse the normal old, pre-COVID, thought pattern and build this thinking into your day…BE-DO-HAVE.
Have a conversation with a client this week that you have never had with anyone before. Ask them if they are playing to win, or playing to not lose. And if it is the latter, what would it look like if they were playing to win. Let’s see who has the courage to care enough to ask that question.
OK, Let’s ROLL!
Mitch
BE the LIGHT!
As the world around us continues its struggle with a seemingly endless series of things that are “just crazy”, the daily piling on of new demanding challenges can be truly overwhelming. I get it. I feel it! I know you do too!
There are moments I find myself just gazing upward and saying… REALLY? So far no answers have fallen from the sky… BUT I go back to a phrase that I have heard over the years and its source is not known to me, so we will credit it to a “chat with the angels”. The following words do not need a lot of explanation, although I will expand on them a bit. The phrase that I reference is….
Don’t wait to SEE the light….. BE the light!
My expansion on that phrase comes from experiences of both a professional and personal nature.
Where I go with all this is pretty simple. What I have found is that when the demands are at their highest, stress seemingly cannot grow, the entire world seems to be totally lost and crazy, and you are about to burst….in that moment your best recourse is to put it all on the shelf for the moment and find SOMEONE to help, to serve, to aid, to protect, or just listen to. If it is someone you know, then find something to do to serve them that you have not done before. It is even better for the world if you go out and find someone new to help. Trust me, it only takes a question or two to find that need and then serve it… serve without reserve!
Go out and BE THE LIGHT… for someone that is lost for the moment and just needs to be able to have a little hope that they did not have up until you served them, and shined some light on their world.
This is a human equation that needs solving. And it’s very “business pragmatic” when you actually realize that our clients are people TOO. And you have the ability to BE THE LIGHT for them, both professionally and personally, if you choose. So go out, BE THE LIGHT. Make a difference!
Don’t wait to SEE the light….. BE the light!
My bet is that within about 3 minutes you can identify a person in your world that blossoms from a little light! Go shine!
CUSP
CARE greatly,
UNDERSTAND deeply,
SERVE endlessly,
with PURPOSE!
It really is that simple. Try it. See the outcomes. And keep going!
Ok, Let’s ROLL!
Mitch
COACHING IS FOREVER!
Coaching is not a journey, it’s a lifestyle. And something that you choose.
Coaching is not a method, it is serving. And doing it without reserve.
Coaching done well is not an event. It is forever.
Coaching is caring greatly about someone. Taking a great amount of time to understand them deeply. It is action-oriented by serving endlessly. And it is deeply founded in a clear understanding of another’s purpose.
And yes, here again, the fundamental framework of CUSP serves us quite well. Care greatly, Understand deeply, Serve endlessly, with Purpose.
There is a funny thing about coaching. A lot of people have come to the conclusion that Coaching, has an endpoint to it. Kind of like the end of a football game. The phrase I hear repeatedly is something like…”I have coached “them” several times on this subject and they just don’t seem to “get” it”. The “coach” is frustrated because they have “coached” the person they are referencing, several times on the same subject with no change in outcome. Often it sounds like they are expecting to have a chat, fix the “issue” and move on.
Let’s tear this “frustration” apart a bit… First, from the comment that I most often hear…” I have coached them several times”, comes the pretty clear reality that what is being done “TO” the person is more accurately labeled mentoring, instructing, managing, directing, or a whole lot more…it is not coaching. So let’s reframe that thought of getting into a true coaching mode that guides us to help someone else achieve what THEY desire to achieve.
And once we get beyond that, the next stumbling block is the assumption that this is an event-driven activity that has an end to it. And if you are going to coach then you need to kill the concept that it is anything less than a continuous improvement project that will have ebbs and flows in lots of directions and will simply continue. Coaching is FOREVER…but ONLY if you want to help others AND improve yourself!
So last week I wrote…. Stop CLOSING, start CARING. And this week I add to that… Stop MANAGING, start really COACHING…. FOREVER!
Ok, Let’s Roll,
Mitch
p.s. and if you want to learn what the VERY BEST coaching looks like, check out my friend Hendre at www.hendrecoetzee.com
Looking to understand more deeply the complexity of anxiety recently I found an amazing piece of work by Dr. Anthony Silard from his site, The Art of Living Free (theartoflivingfree.org). It is an extensive amount of great material, but I thought I would extract just a bit of it and pass it along to you all.
We are first and foremost emotional beings. It is in our structure and in our nature. From there we try to add logic and reasoning, sometimes with limited success. The word interdependence is used below and that is a key to understanding how to relate to our world and our clients. Our clients seek out connections with people that they value as worthy of spending time bonding with. Each interaction that we have with people, family, or clients, is an opportunity to strengthen that connection and add value to that interdependence. Those that understand that connectivity and actively choose to enhance it every time they can bring ever more and more value to the world and those they serve. That choice is yours, every day, every conversation, every interaction, you choose to grow the connection by caring, or not.
My thought for you for this week….. stop “closing”, start “caring”!
OK, Let’s Roll!
Mitch
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Dr. Anthony Silard
The Art of Living Free
Social Distance is Not Emotional Distance
In actuality, what we need to engage in is not social distancing at all, but physical distancing. In this sense, we need to clarify that social distance is not emotional distance. As human beings, we are meant to be social; accordingly, we need to view our relationships as a matter of mental health during this confinement.
The Changing Needs of Relationships in a Pandemic
During isolation, emotions expand and magnify. For this reason, among others, anxiety levels are, on average, three times higher than they were a year ago. Relationships must take these psychological changes during the pandemic into consideration. We are not just in the presence of the Covid pandemic; there is also a loneliness pandemic and a technology pandemic. We never thought we were going to use technology in these new ways to buffer physical isolation.
Time for Change
It’s time to connect with each other. Now is the moment to take care of our parents and others who have taken care of us for so many years. We have to consider and reach out to people we know are suffering. Sharing our feelings and emotions is a marvelous way to open up to each other, lower anxiety and stress, to show vulnerability, and to engage in profound and genuine relationships.
The eye-opening corollary of loneliness is that there are so many people with whom we have come into contact for years and know nothing about it. We don’t know how they feel, how they are handling the pandemic, or how they are reconstructing their lives. We can transcend our comfort zone, reach out to some of them, and deepen our social relationships.
The ones who cope better are the ones who accept what is happening. By accepting that you don’t control everything, you become more capable of engaging in mutual reliance and interdependence. You begin to realize how much we need each other. These types of thoughts and actions will help us move strongly through the largest public health crisis in our lifetimes.
