If The Dalai Lama Was Your Sales Manager

Inspiration hit me, like only inspiration can, upside the head after following a post from LifeHack.org to it’s homebase at RirianProject.com.

This particular post was about 10 Timeless Lessons from the Dalai Lama and they’re great lessons, but here at Simplenomics, we talk mostly about sales, so I thought I’d try to adapt it to selling. Here goes :

Lesson #1 - “ Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk. ”

Great salesmen aren’t really born. No pink and wrinkly baby ever led the company in sales. You only become a great salesman by taking the risks that the fearful, average salesmen won’t take.

If there’s a sure way to get noticed, it’s by selling the account that has never bought before, by selling the big jobs and by getting the job done … without whining, lying or cheating.

Lesson #2 - “ When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.”

This could be my favorite, because I rarely lose out on any project in my area. When I do, I analyze the heck out of what I did or didn’t do, so it never happens that same way again.

You’ll never sell every account or every job that every account does, but if you learn to accept defeat gracefully and learn from the losses, you may come out even better than the salesman who sold the job.

Lesson #3 - “ When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. ”

If you ever realize you’ve mislead or misinformed a client or customer, be sure you’re the one to tell them. Don’t worry about losing the business, just don’t let them find out from a competing salesman or, for that matter, anybody else.

I’ve gotten major accounts and made major sales by finding out what a competitor told a potential customer and analyzing his story. I never lie to a customer and if you sell against me and try it, you’ll be out of a job in a short, short time.

Lesson #4 - “ Spend some time alone every day. ”

Plan your work and work your plan. You’ve heard it before, but do you actually practice it ?

I do. I don’t rely on memory, I write down every voicemail message and the premise of every phone call. Then, at some point during the day, I check my notes and look for calls I need to make or actions I need to take.

Never ending the day with a call or email hanging is one of the secrets to my success. That and the fact that none of my competitors does it.

Lesson #5 - “ Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. ”

You’ve got 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason. Listen twice as much as you speak. This is one I struggle with, at times, and it always bites me in the backside when I violate this rule.

Never be afraid to let silence be your best offense. Just last week, I let a customer hang in silence for several seconds, becuase I was pissed that he kept calling every 30 minutes to ask me the same question.

The end result ? After about 5 seconds, he said, ” Let’s just put this off til Monday and get back after it then. ”

Which was exactly what I’d told him we needed to do 7 calls earlier.

Silence can be golden.

Lesson #6 - “ Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality. ”

This one’s pretty easy. This is exactly why I had this blog built.

I’ve enjoyed some success, using my simple ways and I wanted to share those ways with the world.

You should do the same, because you know some things that nobody else knows.

Seriously, you do.

Need a blog built or a campaign planned to shared said knowledge ? Use the Contact Form on this blog and we’ll see if we can help you.

Lesson #7 - “ Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.”

Never ever try to become someone you aren’t. I’ve had offers to join sales teams that I knew needed me, but I also knew that I wasn’t like them, in one way or another.

If your sales manager asks you to lie, cheat or steal, RUN, don’t walk, RUN as fast as you can away from them and find another way to make a living.

Only one time did I ever end up feeling like a hog at an opera and I’ll never make that mistake again.

Lesson #8 - “ Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. ”

I’ll bet that you can look back and remember a few times that you didn’t get a job or make a sale that you wanted.

I’ll also bet that you can look back and see that the majority of those times you ended up better off because of it.

Don’t waste energy asking why … instead ask what’s next ?

Lesson #9 - “ A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life. ”

You’ll never know just how lucky you are to have a supportive spouse … until you sit at a dinner table with someone who doesn’t have one.

I would not be half the person I am without my loving, supportive, patient much-better-half.

Thanks Joi Tania !

Lesson #10 - “ Be gentle with the earth.”

How are we gonna relate this one to selling ? I have no idea !

But I do believe that the better you are to your fellow man, the more you’re rewarded with good fortune.

So go forth and be gentle with some poor customer or client today and see if it doesn’t come back to you in triplicate.

Thanks again to the two inspirations for this post and to the Dalai Lama for the original thoughts, which I hope I didn’t do any damage to.

Like Hippocrates said, ” First, do no harm. ”

We bloggers should try that more often.