It’s all about William

It’s all about William Many years ago, when I had a proper job, I employed a salesperson called William. Even at his interview, this guy was very impressive. He dressed well, said the right things, asked the right questions and answered my questions accurately. I was so impressed I offered him a job there and then and he took it. (This is not a course of action I would recommend, but in William’s case it worked)

William was paid a basic salary and commission. I knew that he would perform well so I put him straight into a good area and he started work. The area I placed him in was worth about 180,000 commission per year to a good performer so the incentives were worth the effort.

William started to work well. He developed product knowledge, was keen to work with other people until he was ready to go out on his own and after just a few weeks I felt comfortable that he was ready.

William seemed to be working hard but at the end of the first year he had only managed to bring in business that made him 60,000 commission. This was obviously not enough and if his commission was low then so were our sales. Salespeople are easily measured and if you don't bring in the sales then you are likely to be asked to go.

The problem was that I liked William. He was a really nice guy and I didn’t want to fire him, but I told him that I couldn’t let him stay in that area and moved him to a really bad area. This area would not be worth more that 30,000 commission to William in the year so I figured that he would find the area to difficult and resign.

William, on the other hand had different ideas. He saw the new area as a challenge, rolled up his sleeves and got stuck in. During the next year I would often find him working late into the night trying to catch up with his paper work and he would be out on the road first thing the next morning.

At the end of the second year he had turned his new area around. He had found new customers where none were expected, he had regained old customers we had lost and managed to increase the business to existing customers. In short William managed to double the amount of business we would expect from that area and earned R60,000 commission. We were so impressed with William’s performance that he won the annual prize for the most improved area at the end of year conference.

William was a changed man and his performance had justified my faith in him. (At least that’s what I told my colleagues)



I couldn’t leave William in that area now of course; he had earned the right to have better prospects so in the third year I moved him to a much better area. How much commission do you think he earned in the third year?

You guessed it! 60,000 per year. Will is a 60,000 per year man. Doesn’t matter where you put him his belief system says that he should earn 60,000 in commission so that is what he earns, no more.

We all have a belief system that controls what we earn. I was telling this story to a group of salespeople last year and one of them was nodding furiously. At the end of the story I asked him if this rung a bell for him and he told me that he was in the same position right now.

At the beginning of the year he secured a really large contract. This was the big one that we all dream about, being over a million rand contract it represented just less than his year’s target.



After the fuss died down and he had received the commission cheque he got back to work but his heart was not in it. He liked his job but he just couldn’t get focused. Four months had gone by since that large contract had been signed but since then he hadn’t managed to sign up more that a handful of new customers. He was getting depressed and even started to question his own selling skills.

Only after hearing the story of William did he understand what was happening. He had secured what he needed for the year so his belief system took over and held him back from producing what he was capable of.

So what is your belief system telling you about yourself right now? You are earning what your belief system tells you should earn, not what you are capable of. Get beyond your belief system and there is no limit.



It’s all about William - To learn more about this author, visit Richard Mulvey's Website.

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