The Tiny Gift That Made Me Cry

Sales calls gave me an experience so tough that a few tiny pieces of plastic reduced me to tears. Then I got a lesson so deep I needed to share it with you.

Dateline: December 6th. I was feeling numb at the end of a full work day...making, you guessed it, sales calls. Leaving messages, not reaching anyone. It felt deadly. Unwanted. Rejected. For weeks I'd been working my "upbeat" but ending my days exhausted, mumbling to myself "I'm doing the best I can," and trying to believe it.

What was wrong with me? I had something valuable for people I cared about. Surely if that were true, they'd answer my email. They'd pick up the phone. They'd call me back. Unless maybe I didn't. I packed it in for the day.

It was dark, long past time to depart the lovely remote location where I'd been working. My gracious host invited me to take a few minutes together before I left to open the special box of Advent Calendar Legos he had. He had been wonderfully kind to me through several days that had just felt really hard, for reasons I didn't understand. So of course I was going to stay a bit longer.

The kit had pieces and instructions to put together a new little toy each day before Christmas. We opened four crinkly plastic bags filled with hundreds of tiny brightly-colored pieces and started working together.

Now understand a couple of things: I was already feeling brain dead and kind of defeated. I'd meant to leave an hour ago, and had hour's drive ahead of me. Puzzles are not my sweet spot. I am terrible at reading instructions. I'm not good at looking for things. And...it was December 6th. On top of everything else, I thought, I'm starting out six toys behind. No matter what my struggles might be as a business owner, I guess I'm not cut out to be an elf, either.

We sorted through pieces, hunting down the right sizes and colors and shapes to match the pictures in the booklet. It was frustrating. I noticed that when I couldn't find something, my first instinct was to blame the kit for missing pieces. Um, NOT. Of course they were there. I just needed a little more faith, and patience...and to relax.

We finished the first one, and smiled. We sent a picture of it to our friend who'd given us the kit. Then we had to take it apart to get the pieces to build the next one.

My host got up to get some food. "You build the next one," he said. And I did. And the next one. And the next one. Sort, snap, take the picture, take it apart. I felt my mood lifting.

Then I held this little box in my hands, and broke into tears.

I realized I felt more happiness, joy, and accomplishment in an hour building tiny toy Legos than I'd had during weeks of making sales calls.

How pathetic, I thought as I drove.

Once I got home, I looked through my daybook at the lists of calls, no-answers, and just "no thanks" that I'd been getting...for weeks. Wow. Okay, I'm not making it up. I've had a really hard stretch. But I've to to keep at it.

Many people hit a point where the pain and disappointment they're experiencing in the federal market is simply so great that they are ready for change. They know they need to do something different. They are super-smart experts at what they do. They have awesome past performance. They just want a proven, reliable, way to woo the buyers who truly need them, long before opportunities hit the street.

I give business owners the proven systems that my clients used to win a million dollar pilot program, increase federal business 47% in a year, become a top national federal reseller. The people that do the work get those results.

But first they have to find me. Which is why, just like them, I need to make sales calls.

Remember I said that I'm terrible at following instructions?

I have the most amazing business partner. For the last three years, she and I have worked with our wonderful clients. These are people who are determined and committed to their federal success, and want to learn. They are ready to push past their comfort zone and do new things to get the results they've always dreamed of. They realize quickly that they're getting the tools and systems that really work.

I walk my talk. That's what integrity means to me. I take the same advice I give my clients. Yes, I'd talked to a lot of people. I'd really LISTENED to them and gotten to know them, taken the time to hear what's important to them. But that wasn't enough. What was missing?

Here's what changed: I stopped assuming anything about their silence.

Instead, I dug deeper into my patience and persistence. I wanted to reach them, so I kept calling back. I stopped letting my brain make up stories about what they were thinking about me, what a pest I must be to them, calling and calling.

What did I know for sure? Only that we are each doing the best we can.

I set aside my fears. I stopped assuming anything about why we hadn't connected. I left a message of good cheer and enthusiasm. I left another one. I let them know when I was going to call them back. I made a note, and DID call back then. I followed up with an email, and a link to something I knew they cared about. I left another message.

I kept at it. I had faith in our system, just like my clients do.

I stopped thinking about "making sales calls" at all. Those simple calls were doing something much deeper: building trust, one small interaction at a time.

Suddenly, things started to move. The people I'd left all those messages and emails for started calling me back. They didn't feel harassed. They didn't feel stalked. They hadn't been avoiding me. They were GRATEFUL!

"Oh, I'm so glad you called!"

"I know I owe you a call back; we've been so busy. Let's set up a meeting pronto."

"Yes, I definitely want to know how to save $1,000 on your 2017 program. Get me the outline right away."

We can't know anything about people we don't talk to. We have no idea what's going on in their lives until we do. Unless we care just as much about them, including by continuing to show up, and show that they matter to us, the people we want to do business with are not going to connect with us. That's part of what it takes to build trust -- the trust that is the foundation for everything, including and especially business.

ESPECIALLY FEDERAL BUSINESS.

______________________________________________________________________

I'm Judy Bradt, CEO of Summit Insight. My team creates federal sales plans action-packed with the leads and tactics you need to grow your federal business. Until Friday, December 16th, you can get $1,000 off my 2017 programs. Email or call me at (703) 627-1074 today.