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| Major "AB" Bourke |
I was fortunate, recently, to be present at a keynote address given by Maj. "AB" Bourke, fighter pilot and motivational speaker. He stated that he had two concepts to discuss in his speech: 1. "Briefing" and 2. "De-briefing" and to show how these they were essential to achieve peak performance in our jobs.
The ideal of the "briefing" is obvious: what is the mission? Everyone involved in a mission needs to know the purpose and intended outcome.
In the military, the de-brief is when all involved in the mission take off their name tags and rank insignia and get together as "equals" to assess the mission and evaluate every component of the process. According to Bourke, the de-brief is the most powerful way to accelerate results. The de-brief is "a sacred learning environment and a path to getting better".
Without these two components (brief and de-brief), peak performance is not achievable.
I asked him how this concept applies to an individual sales person who works alone. His response was that we must create a checklist of outcomes that we want to accomplish for the week and for each meeting during the week. This is the "briefing"; this is the mission. We know we're going to be thrown off track during the week, or during the meeting, be we need to continuously refer to the list to put ourselves back on track.
Then, most importantly, at the end of each meeting and at the end of the week, we need to evaluate our performance--the "de-brief". Did we accomplish our overall objectives? If not, why not. Be brutally honest with yourself.
How essential is this? Bourke gave an example of the Blue Angels flying group. At the end of an air show, the pilots land and walk from their planes. The crowds want autographs; want to touch them and talk to them. But the pilots all head to a quiet room for the de-brief. It is never, never skipped.
Sales people who aspire to peak performance should never skip the brief and the de-brief; should always have a "mission" for the week and for each meeting and then evaluate the success of the mission with an honest de-briefing.
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| Katie Ledecky |
Watching the Olympics, we see these incredible performances by athletes like Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles, Michael Phelps (of course), and so many others--and say "Wow!" Then we get up the next morning and go about our mundane jobs of selling insurance, or refrigerators, or air compressors, or houses, or whatever. "What do they have that I don't have"? you may ask. They are human beings just like us, born with bodies just like ours; some have overcome great physical, mental, or environmental obstacles--just like us. What is it, then?
"Inc." magazine's Jeff Haden did a write up on Katie Ledecky and the psychology of success. How do Katie, and other Olympians, do it?
1. They work very, very hard. "You can't be great at anything--unless you put in an incredible amount of focused effort." Katie swims 6,000 yards in the morning and 7,000 yards in the afternoon. Every morning and every afternoon. Not just when she feels like it. "There are no shortcuts." You have to work harder and longer hours than everyone else and that's the simple fact.
2. They put in the time. Jeff Haden: "Every extremely successful entrepreneur ... works more hours than the average person -- a lot more. They have long lists of things they want to get done. So they have to put in the time." If you think you can be successful working 9 to 5, it ain't happening. When everyone else goes home, you need to keep going--learning, growing, searching for new customers. One of the best salesman I know told me the other day--"when I'm feeling really good about myself, I make cold calls because I know I can deal with rejection then." He just keeps working--there's no way to be successful without continuous, hard work and long hours.
3. Set hard goals--not easy ones. Ledecky's goal was Olympic gold. Wow! How about setting a goal to get that customer that you never thought you could get? Make a plan and work that plan step by step. As Haden says, "Never start small where goals are concerned. You'll make better decisions--and find it much easier to work a lot harder --when your ultimate goal is ultimate success." ... When your ultimate goal is that impossible customer.
4. And never stop. "Ledecky won gold medals at the London Olympics and then set her sites on Rio". Successful salespeople never stop establishing goals and then working harder than anyone else to achieve them.
