Chapter 83.
Lead by Selling

Everyone lives by selling something.

—Robert Louis Stevenson

Dan Kennedy is a local marketing expert who has done a lot of direct sales in his lifetime. He has made the observation that the most successful doctors, lawyers, teachers, and businesspeople that he works with invariably have some sales experience in their background.

Scott recalls: I was wondering, before, why I’ve never had a problem enrolling people in projects. It’s just been very easy for me, always. And then I heard Dan Kennedy’s observation: You know, he’s right! Before I had had some direct sales experience, I was very poor at enrolling people in projects and ideas. Afterward, I was great. So let me tell you how I experienced that transformation in my life.

Before I went to college, I decided to spend a summer selling books door-to-door in Pennsylvania. I attended a week-long sales training school put on by a company called Southwestern, the largest door-to-door book sales company in the United States. (They primarily use college students to work during the summer.)

During this week, we learned our basics. It was the old-style selling: You learned your sales pitch and memorized it. Then you learned about door approaches, how to inspire confidences and get in and make your presentation, and how to close (gracefully asking for the order). Just classic selling.

The very first house I called on, I actually sold something. And I thought, Man, this stuff really works. This is a piece of cake.

And that was the last sale I had for two weeks. And so my sales manager decided to start working with me to see what wasn’t working. He gave me a diagnosis, “Scott, you’re not closing. You’re not even asking for the sale.”

“What do you mean I’m not closing? Of course I’m closing.”

“No, you’re not. You didn’t close once.”

“I didn’t?”

“No. Look, I know we taught you to close at least three times, but for you there’s no limit. Just start off showing them a little bit about the books, then you close. And if they say, ‘No, I’m not interested,’ you say, ‘I know just what you mean,’ and you show them a little bit more, and you close again.”

So I said, “That’s crazy. They’re going to throw me out on my butt!”

“Just try it.”

Well, I figured the other way wasn’t working, so what the heck?

So the next house we called on, I presented the books a little bit and asked the lady for the order. She said, “Well, I’m really not interested.”

“That’s fine, I know exactly what you mean,” I said.

Then I showed her a little bit more and asked her again. And she said, “Well, I don’t know, I don’t have the money.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” I said.

And I showed her a little bit more and closed her again. I closed her at least five times and I thought, Man, how long is this going to take? I guess she hasn’t kicked me out, so I’ll keep going.

And finally, I think on the sixth close, she said, “Okay!”

I was shocked.

Later on, something very surprising happened.

It turned out that this nice lady worked in a bank right there in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. One day, when I went to the bank to bring all my checks from my sales to deposit, I saw her there. She was working as a teller. I put my checks in to deposit, and she seemed very embarrassed to see me. So I thought, Oh my gosh, maybe I just ramrodded her into buying and now she feels bad. But oh well, we always tell them they can cancel the order.

So I shoved my checks toward her and said, “I want to deposit these checks.”

And she said, “You know, Scott, I hope you didn’t mind that I took so long to decide, but I just wanted to make sure that I really wanted those books. Now I’m so glad I bought them.”

What a lesson. So from then on, I’ve never been afraid to ask. And then ask again! In terms of leadership, this simply means asking for what you want, being very direct with your requests, and having your communication centered on requests and promises.

You can go up the ladder to the people who lead you and make bold requests on behalf of you and your team. You can do the same with major customers. Also, with your own direct reports, figure out what you want your people to buy in to, and then sell them on the idea. But don’t forget to close them. Don’t forget to make a strong, specific request (the close), and then receive a strong, specific promise in return.