The mysterious case of the gun shy salesman...

Guest post by: Kirk Kjellberg
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Stress isn't real! - By Kirk Kjellberg

The mysterious case of the gun shy salesman...

Recently I went to the local kennel to get my youngest lab Ella ready for pheasant hunting this fall. I had worked with her last year but she was a bit "gun shy", (scared of gunfire). She loves to chase birds and hunts for them and the ever-hated Chipmunks all the time, but gunfire is something that she finds rather unappealing.

My two other labs act like kids on Christmas morning that have had a two shots of espresso, and a sugar cookie. Gunfire to them simply means "birds". The dog trainer has laid out and intensive two week course for Ella to follow in order to get her "bird crazy" while slowly adding in the gun sound in.

Here is the $64,000 question: Why are some salespeople conditioned to always feel like they are about to get "birds" in spite of gunfire, and some salespeople hide out at the thought of it? A better question might be how are you behaving at the sound of gunfire, both personally and recessionary?

The all powerful NO is gunfire to salespeople. Even hearing things like, "oh I am sorry, he just stepped into a meeting" for the fifth time. With the extended sales cycles and sometimes crushing competition, even a great dog can lose it's excitement for gunfire when the birds are no where to be seen for extended periods. In the south you'll often hear the saying, that dog won't hunt!

Are you out hunting? Do you prospect? If so how often and how hard? Are you working new leads, new names, going to new events, throwing events of your own? Are you gun shy? If so, who can blame you! Our recent financial catastrophe has had the most seasoned business people hiding under their desks.

In my coaching, I had a salesperson who was terrible gun shy. She did anything to keep from facing gunfire. She milled around the office, over mothering the few deals she did have to the point of irrating her support staff. It isn't hard to avoid the activities of sales, just stay busy with the unimportant details...

How can you fix a gun shy in a salesperson? Well for Ella the Labrador, the trainer gets her excited about birds. Everyday for 2 weeks, they throw decoys into the pond and let her chase around some live ones too. She gets into the fun of the hunt so much, the gun fire becomes background noise.

That is just what I want from you after you read this article. Get off your butt and chase up some new birds. Go to a neighboring city's Chamber meeting as a guest, go to a BNI meeting as a guest, go anywhere, strike up a conversation. You can network without selling, and no selling means no chance of hear gunfire in the form of a no. Just, "Hello, my name is (insert your name here). What kind of business are you in...", you get the drift. Just get out and attend. Walk into a prospects office and just ask for the card of the owner and leave. Start offering to help someone else or on a project or committee. MEET NEW PEOPLE.

If after a week, (or two at most), of meet and greet you can't get it together enough to get prospect and expand your horizons by learning how to tweet or getting linked up on Linkedin, you should look for a coach or change jobs. (I would hate to see you starve...)

So there you have it, we all get overwhelmed. But you can retrain your response to the gunfire of no! Ella can do it and so can you. Happy hunting...

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Stress isn't real! - By Kirk Kjellberg

About the Author: Kirk Kjellberg

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Kirk Kjellberg, has thirty years of business operations and sales experience. A published author and seasoned salesperson and sales manager himself, he has worked for giant companies such as Waste Management, Inc., training companies such as Dale Carnegie Training, Inc. as well as several entrepreneurial pursuits of his own. Being exposed to and trained in both coaching and consulting disciplines combined with his extensive sales experience is a definite advantage to the reader, as Kirk delivers a dual path experience that combines the best of both worlds.. To succeed you must be able to sell, period.
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