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The Lone Ranger

Hi Ho Silver! When I was young, I loved The Lone Ranger. He worked alone. Only one close relationship and he wasn’t dependent on anyone. When I started in sales, I was a “Lone Ranger”. I was only interested in me.Every morning, I got up and listened to the same radio station WIIFM (What’s In It For Me!). If my company asked me to do something outside the scope of selling the prospect, I’d tell myself, “I don’t get paid for that”. When I sold someone something, I often left a wake of customer service issues in my path.As I matured, I learned the value of the organization I worked for, the “Company”. I learned it was disingenuous to cash the company’s check and not support the company. However, I had to discover this secret to success in sales the hard way. So today, here’s my sales tip to make more money.Think of your company as a boat in the middle of the ocean. Think of the people on the boat as the people in your company. Now, if a hole springs in the corner of the boat you wouldn’t point at the hole and say that’s accountings hole. You wouldn’t say that part of the boat is customer services’. You’d run over and plug the hole. In fact, in a boat in the middle of the ocean everyone would cooperate because their survival is dependent on the boat.When you think of your company as a boat, your “Lone Ranger” attitude will go away. You would begin making sure you didn’t create or ignore problems.To maximize the power of the organization behind you, you should abandon the “Fighter Pilot” mentality and embrace the “Boat” mentality. When you hang up the phone with someone in your organization it should be your goal for them to say to themselves or a co-worker “Wow, I’m glad they work with us”.When you communicate with any department, the company executives, or other sales people your goal should be the same. When they close their conversation with you, they say to themselves, “Wow, we’re lucky to have them!”How do you do this? First, don’t wait on someone else to adopt this philosophy. One person told me he’d never do this. He said in his company everyone was out for themselves and he wasn’t going to be different.My mom used to say, “If everyone jumped off the bridge, would you?” What other people do shouldn’t determine your behavior. If this situation exists, you should change companies or begin changing the culture yourself. There is too much sales power in a unified boat to face a career without one.Second, get your mind off of what you need and get it on what your co-workers need. They’ll take care of you if you take care of them. It requires some risk and trust but if you come through and your co-workers don’t, see above.My sales exploded when I quit listening to “WIIFM” and I tuned into my co-workers. I know yours will too. Start your own WOW company today.