How David Fisher Sells: To Be a Million-Dollar Seller, Become a Million-Dollar Person

David J.P. Fisher?was always entrepreneurial. Growing up, he cut grass, landscaped, waited tables – any side job he could pick up. He liked working and his family instilled a strong work ethic, and all seemed good.

And then, when he was 20 years old, he landed his first sales job – selling knives for Cutco Cutlery. It took everything to another level.

“That was the first time I had real exposure to getting paid for results – and I loved that,” David said.?

“It wasn’t just about compensation,” he continued. “It was about being rewarded for development. I had an early mentor who told me you can’t become a million-dollar earner until you become a million-dollar man. I believe that – what I found is that personal development proceeds professional development.”?

David took that job and ran with it, becoming a sales manager for Cutco, running their Chicago office at the ripe age of 22. Later, he’d work in sales for Brinks Home Security and then Ajax Workforce Marketing, until launching his own business in 2006 – RockStar Consulting, where he helps professionals build their sales and networking acumen.

He’s also found the time to write?12 books?– most of them on either sales or networking, along with one book of haiku – and was even?inducted into the Badger Mapping Sales Hall of Fame. In August of 2022, he took on a new role, leading global social selling for?SAS.?

What has David learned in a 25-year career dedicated to outright selling, sales coaching, and/or writing about sales? We sat down with him to find out.

1. What motivates you at work, even when you aren't feeling it?

Two ways I think about this.

One is that I think motivation falls flat. It’s more valuable to develop discipline instead of waiting for motivation.

The writer Stephen King talks about how he writes a certain amount of words every day, no matter what. He doesn’t wait for inspiration; he just goes and does it. My philosophy is very similar in that you don't wait for the motivation, you just figure out what the core activities that you need to do to be successful are. And then you commit to doing those.

Second is that it comes down to intention. I’m a lot less motivated by external outcomes than other sellers. Sure, I love the commission checks and the trips, but that’s not what drives me.

Instead, I try to be intentional about what I’m trying to create. And that means being intentional about the actions I take and how I want to treat people. I can’t control the outcomes – but, so long as I can look at myself in the mirror and know I did what I could do, I’m cool with it.

2.?What's your sales philosophy, in 3 sentences or less?

My sales philosophy is to be of service to others, to provide value by helping them make decisions more easily, more quickly, or with less risk. And if you look at selling as I’m here to help you solve a problem, it gets a lot easier.

When I started in my career selling knives, I had a very high closing rate – above 90%. One reason:?I only would sell what the person needed. If the person had a big family and they cooked all the time, I’d sell them a whole set of knives because they needed it. But, if the person lived alone and never cooked, I’d sell them a pizza cutter because at least I know they’d use that.

And I’ve always tried to have that focus on service.?It sounds hokey, but it really does matter. Running my own business, there were many deals I walked away from because I knew I just couldn’t help the other person.

So seeing the sales role as one that is focused on helping people solve problems is central to it all.

3. How do you make your prospecting stand out?

Running my business for 16 years, my business development was almost exclusively warm and relationship-based, or referrals. And it actually informed a lot of what I’d coach my clients on and still coach SAS sellers on – this idea of building the relationship first.

I focus on relationships and will invest some time there to become a trusted advisor. Then, when someone starts that buying journey, I know they are going to reach out to me first. Because only 5% of your target audience is ready to buy at any given time – so if I build a relationship with them proactively, then when they are ready to buy, they will think of me.

When I first started out, I was the guy who would go to two or three networking events a week. I can’t tell you how many coffees and lunches I’ve done, it’s got to be in the thousands. And many of these relationships didn’t directly lead to business, which is fine. Because many also led to sales and other opportunities.

LinkedIn took this whole approach to the next level. Now, I was able to stay engaged with my whole network virtually and maintain those relationships. It’s been a really powerful tool for me.

4. What's your favorite discovery question?

I don't necessarily think there's one particular magic question. It's really about the intent of a conversation.

My goal is always to find the motivating emotion of why someone is talking to me.?You have to earn the right to ask about that, though, and many sellers want to shortcut the process. Because buyers have their defenses up when they talk to sellers, and they don’t want to reveal what their motivating emotion is, necessarily.

To overcome that, it comes down to building the relationship first. Connecting with the person in front of me, listening to them.

If I had to say what is my favorite discovery question, it would simply be, “how are you?” and then really listen to the answer. Because that’s where it all starts – the first step is to actually care. You have to have the foundation set before you dig in.

5. Do you have a preferred closing technique?

I don’t think closing “techniques” are the way to close. That being said, one of my core principles has always been to ensure that I do ask.

Meaning, if there is an opportunity that I perceive, I want to make the ask. You can’t be quiet and hope they jump – you have to make the ask.

That goes all the way back to me selling knives. I always asked for the order. Now, in my role consulting salespeople, I’m surprised at how many sellers don’t ask.

Personally, I like to ask the person – “Based on what we're talking about and based on what I'm seeing, I think it makes sense for us to do X. Would you agree?” Yours might be different. But whatever it is, you have to ask in some way, shape, or form, as opposed to just hoping.

6. Is there a habit you have outside of work that helps you sell better?

I’d encapsulate it all as self-care. There are four things I try to take care of daily – my mind, my body, my soul, and my heart.

For my mind, I try to read every day. For my body, I try to exercise every day. For my soul, I try to journal every day. And for my heart, I try to meditate every day.

If I hit those four quadrants every day (and it’s definitely a work in progress), then the selling and everything else gets a lot easier.

7. What’s your favorite feature in Sales Navigator?

My favorite feature is a relatively new feature where you can save leads, so you get notified when one of your prospects posts on LinkedIn.

As our networks grow, I think that allows you to have this up-to-date information about the people who are most important. For me, sharing content on LinkedIn is important. But engaging with my prospects’ content is probably more important, so I can build those relationships.

Those notifications help me do that and stay top-of-mind to the most important people.

8. What has been your biggest failure in sales, and how did that experience transform you?

I became a sales manager when I was 22, right after I graduated college. And I was awful at it – I was very much the model of a great salesperson who doesn’t make a great sales manager.

It was humbling because I was used to success as an individual seller and being at the top of the charts. And then, I went to the middle of the charts, and it was a blow to the ego.

What it did for me – and trust me, it didn’t happen right away – is it forced me to take a step back and really look at how I communicate. And that’s where I learned how to coach and how to meet people where they are.?I became more aware of my what I was communicating?and the actions it takes to create successful action.

It took some tries. First you try to be someone else, but you realize that doesn’t work – you have to be yourself. You realize you have to be authentic to yourself and still lead other people.

And really, that’s now how I see sales conversations. They are coaching conversations. You are helping someone through a problem or to get to the next level.

It was tough, it stung, and it took a few years to get my feet on the ground. That learning is still going on today; I’m not perfect at it. But it all helped me develop and, ultimately, made me a far better salesperson and leader.

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