The Best Deal I Ever Won Taught Me a Major Life Lesson

When I look back on my early years in sales, I realize that was the time where I learned the principles that had the most significant impact on my sales career and my training.

Back then, I was like most salespeople when first breaking into B2B sales. When you're new to something, you tend to have a ton of enthusiasm. It isn't product knowledge or industry expertise that gets you through. It's the newness that sparks that excitement. I think enthusiasm pulls a lot of sales reps through the initial phase of their careers. One thing we use in our classes is that the last four letters of enthusiasm are an acrostic for I Am Sold Myself.

Back then, I heard a story in one of the sales training sessions I attended, about a hugely successful insurance salesperson. He was much younger than his peers at the insurance company. But he was writing insurance policies with organizations and wealthy individuals that were exceptionally bigger than any other salesperson in the company.

When the company reviewed their salespeople's performance, what they discovered was that most of the insurance people on the team tended to call on people that they viewed as their peers or below. But this person was calling on people that were far above his level of income and seniority. When asked about his reason for doing this, he said, "I'd rather have somebody, a 'big fish' tell me no over someone at my level or below."

After hearing that story, I decided to target some of the largest companies in the Philadelphia area, the ones with the most employees. At that point, I was selling for Dale Carnegie Training and getting corporate managers to buy into corporate training for their employees. It wasn't too long before I found myself calling one of the biggest employers in the area, the Philadelphia water department, with over 6,000 employees.

I worked my fingers off, trying to make inroads into that organization and reach their training executive. I would show up and ask for an appointment, I dropped off notes, left voicemails, sent emails, sent snail mail letters, and followed up with phone calls. Mind you, this was before social media was hot, and LinkedIn became a sales tool. Finally, after much consistent persistence, I broke through, and Michelle, the training executive, granted me an appointment!

I can remember the day I walked in. I was as nervous as you can imagine. I mean, she was the big wig. I was finally in, and I didn't want to blow the opportunity.

Naturally, when I got there, I had to wait in the lobby for an extended period. Everything was running behind, which meant more time for my nervousness to grow!

When someone from the company finally escorted me back to her office, I noticed a sign on her door that read:

If you don't have an answer to these four questions:

1. What is the problem?
2. What are the causes of the problem?
3. What are the possible solutions?
4. What's the best possible solution?

Then don't bother coming in!

I guessed it was a sign for her staff.

When I began the meeting, we started with pleasantries, we made some small talk, and I introduced myself. I was still extremely nervous and sweating, as well. But I kept it under control and said, "Hey Michelle, I know you probably don't have all the time in the world. How much time do you have?" She said, "Yeah, I got about 30 minutes." She was open, calm, and friendly.

I said, "I noticed the sign on your door. I'm not sure why you took the meeting."

She said, "I took the meeting because you worked hard to get it."

So, I said, "Well, the sign on your door said, "What's the problem" first. You probably also met with us because you know we're a training company. Can we maybe talk about a problem that got you to take this meeting?"

Because I put the focus of the meeting back on her, I gave that relationship a chance to grow. It ultimately turned into one of the most substantial business relationships I had even to this day. They went on to put hundreds of their employees through our training, a business relationship that pushed a 6-figure income through our organization every year.

As the account grew, my responsibilities changed outside of that region. I went on and transitioned the account over to another account manager who was going to take over the territory. As with any good transition, I shepherded the new account manager into the account and introduced him to Michelle as the manager who would be taking over in my place. She looked at the new account manager and said, "I want to let you know, we're only doing business with your company because of the business attitude and the attention to detail that Lance brought to the table. We are your clients because of him."

And that's when I realized; people buy from people. They don't buy from companies. They don't buy from brands. They buy from people

This one idea was an epiphany for me that changed how I conducted my business and life. I continue to teach that idea to people when I perform training sessions for my team and in our consultation sessions.

People buy from people. To sell is human.

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Your best deal won’t be the biggest deal you ever closed or the toughest battle you ever fought. Your best deal will be the one where you had an epiphany, a profound realization that changes how you conduct your business and yourself.