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Take a Risk Like Tammy Faye- How To Do Business With Color

Written by: Brian Sullivan

Article Overview: Why are we all afraid to take a risk? Find out in this article.

Take a Risk Like Tammy Faye- How To Do Business With Color

�Stay focused! Please! No�not like that! I thought you would do so much better. You need to color in the lines. Why are you doing it that way! Don�t you want it to be perfect?� Those were the words I heard three weeks ago as I sat in a two-foot blue plastic chair next to a fellow parent at Kansas City�s Pottery Playland. This was no typical Saturday at the �Playland.� Oh no...In fact, there was a Princess Pottery Party going on, and I found myself surrounded by a pack of five year olds dressed as Cinderella, Snow White and Belle. Unfortunately, I was also surrounded by a pack of parents who, without trying, were playing the parts of the Evil Stepmother, the Wicked Witch and the Beast.

As I listened to these evil characters do their best to help their children create and paint the perfect piece of pottery, what I realized was that to these parents, their kids were like there own pieces of pottery. And as they encouraged their kids to create perfection, it was actually their kids that they were trying to make perfect. Now I don't claim to be Dr. Phil and don't expect any Father of the Year Awards anytime soon, but I learned a lot that day with my daughter by my side and a paintbrush in our hands. When I saw one little girl "paralyzed" with that brush, afraid of coloring outside the line, terrified of taking a risk and petrified at the thought of disappointing her mother, it hit me. Will that little girl dressed up as Cinderella, ever be willing and able to be confident, take a risk, be creative�live a little! I wonder.

Tony Morrison, the first African-American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature tells us:
"I want to discourage you from choosing anything or making any decision simply because it is safe. Things of value seldom are."

And this is a lesson that we need to be reminded of regularly. So ask yourself, what do you want to happen for you and your career as the year draws to an end? What new accounts are you longing for? What promotion are you dying to win? What position on the sales list do you want to appear in? If you truly value those things, then your time has come. But only you can make it happen. And it won't be easy. And why should it be? You see, the great thing about getting to the "Top" is that it is NOT for everybody. Not everybody will enter the 4th quarter willing�or able�to take the risks necessary to get to the top. Many will tentatively grab their paintbrush, paralyzed and afraid to pick the wrong paint, color outside the lines, and disappoint their manager. I say," LET IT GO!"

Grab that brush, pick the wildest color you can find, and unleash that creativity that makes you stand out among all other salespeople. Why? Because nobody notices the piece of pottery (or salesperson) that "looks" like all the rest. They will, however, take note of the one that shows creativity. So do something in the 4th quarter to thank your best customer in a way that gets you noticed. And think of that one customer that you have been longing for but can't get in the door and do something "risky." Send a cake with your phone number on it, dress up for Halloween and make calls, where an otoscope battery around your neck�whatever! Just "LET IT GO!" And take comfort in the fact that the other "kids" will be afraid to take the risk necessary to increase their business.

Lesson for Sales Managers

Just last week, my daughter and I went and picked up her pottery creation after they "cooked" it for a few days. While the ceramic bear she painted was born a shade of powdery white, after my daughter was through with it, you would have thought that Tammy Faye Baker had created it in her own image. The arms were pink, the nose purple, and the head had a mix of green, red, black, opal�And the eye shadow�horrifying! But to her, it was awesome! Because she did it!

Is there any doubt that if I had told her exactly how to do it, criticized her for not doing it the "right" way, and then grabbed the brush and did it myself, not only would she have a horrible time, but I would have risked making her afraid to make mistakes. And worse, that would be the last Princess Party I would ever be invited to! (bad thing?) And you and I both know, salespeople, like daughters, are going to do it their own way some time. And sometimes as sales leaders we need to just "LET IT GO!" Because once we stifle our people's willingness to make their own hard, fast decisions, we risk "paralyzing" them. And a "scared" salesperson will never reach their full potential.

As I sit here in my office, staring at my daughter's creation, I am reminded just how great our profession�and life can be if we just live a little. And I can almost hear that Tammy Faye Bear saying, "I made a living painting where I wasn't supposed to. And let me tell you, it can be pretty lucrative." So grab the brush, LET IT GO, and let the 4th quarter Princess Party begin! Tammy Faye would want it that way.

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Article Tags: creativity in business, outside the box, precise selling, risk, sales training, take risks



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