Are You A Sheep?

Do you follow the crowd? Do what you are told? Accept the answers that are given you? Do you subscribe to the philosophy: “that’s just the way it goes sometimes.” Do you like the box and all that is inside?

There are times when this approach to life can be very beneficial – but generally not in business and especially not in sales.

After landing in Orange County last week, I headed to Hertz to pick up my car. I was very surprised to see 30+ people standing around, looking at the board, waiting for their name to pop up to direct them to their car. Hertz does an amazing job of ensuring that picking up your rental car is as painless as possible but for some reason they were struggling on this particular day.After checking in with customer service, I was told to join the crowd – stand outside and watch the board for my name and space number to appear. Since I love Hertz and I have never had a problem getting my car, I didn’t complain and stood with the others hoping to see my name in lights.

After waiting about five minutes with the growing number of stranded travelers, I started to get antsy. Just then, the name of a person next to me popped up on the board – her car was ready. I asked her how long she had been waiting – over 45 minutes. And, she added, she had missed a meeting.

I had a meeting as well and I wasn’t going to miss it. I snapped into action. I summoned all my critical thinking powers and decided to look around for another agency to meet my rental car needs. It wasn’t difficult – there was an Avis counter about 25 yards away with a big sign – Cars Available. So I walked over, rented a car, and was out of the airport in less than 10 minutes. As I was driving out, I looked over at the mob of people still doing what they were told – looking at the sign and waiting for their magic number to appear. Smith, Space 135. Doesn’t this strike you as odd?

It’s crazy to me but most people, candidly, are like sheep.

They just blindly follow the one who’s in charge and do what they are told to do. I didn’t get out of the garage because I was smarter and more talented than the 40 people standing in line (I can promise you that is not the case). I got to my appointment on time because I am unwilling to act like a sheep. I am unwilling to blindly follow the one in charge or do what the crowd is doing (although that would have saved me a lot of grief in high school).

But I see this sheep like mentality too commonly when traveling with sales reps. I witness a lot of exchanges along the lines of:

Non-Decision Maker: “You don’t really need to call Jordan (the decision-maker). She isn’t interested in ____.”

Rep: “Okay, thanks.”

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Customer: “We really don’t have a budget for that…”

Rep: “Okay, what if we lowered our price to….”

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Decision-Maker: “Thanks for calling but you need to call Judy (not the decision-maker). She handles that.”

Rep: “Okay, thanks. I will give her a call.”

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Sales Team Member: “You don’t need to call XYZ Company. I met with them a few years ago and they weren’t interested.”

Rep: “Okay, thanks. I appreciate the heads up.”

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Sales Team Member: “With the problems we are having with ____, we will never be able to hit our quota.”

Rep: “Yeah, you are probably right. What are we going to do?”

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I am certainly not suggesting that we should be aggressive or manipulative – never taking no for an answer. What I am saying is that most successful sales reps have one thing in common – what I call the x-factor. They don’t follow the crowd and they don’t just do what people tell them to do. They think outside of the box and find a way to get things done. They don’t always win. And yes, some deals really aren’t worth pursuing. And no, you can’t always reach the decision-maker. But these reps will work every possible angle to figure out a way to succeed and, therefore, greatly outperform the average reps. Again, they’re not smarter or more talented.

Successful reps think in terms of “how”, not “can’t.”

If you are not sure and want to honestly assess your approach to life or business (i.e., are you a sheep?), examine your thought process when facing a challenge. Do you believe that you will somehow find a way or do you believe you are stuck? When people make recommendations or provide direction, do you just blindly follow or do make up your own mind? If other people are “getting out of the garage,” do you come up with a reason that they will get busted or a reason why it’s the wrong move? Do you honestly consider other options? And probably the most telling, what’s your ratio of reasons you can succeed to reasons the challenge can’t be overcome?

If you do find that you are a little bit more on the sheepish side, the good news is that changing doesn’t require anything more than willingness. Adopting an “x-factor” mentality to challenges and the ability to think outside of the box requires nothing more than a choice. You may be thinking, “easy for you to say, I’m just not very creative.” That’s your inner sheep talking. If the problem requires a creative solution, then find someone creative. All that is required is humility and willingness.

Or you can just stand there and watch the sign… and then blame Hertz for missing your meeting. That’s seems to be the new American way.