Meet Rogier
It is Tuesday morning at 08:30. Rogier is driving to work. He has been a salesman for 15 years, is a smooth talker, and thinks very highly of himself. Furthermore, everything comes easily to him.
Moreover, although he has been missing out on orders increasingly often in recent years, he is not too worried about it; he will meet his target this year anyway, because he always does. However, it is less generous than in the past.
His manager has already spoken to him about it, noting that he notices Rogier is much less sharp than a few years ago. Rogier has occasionally wondered why he sometimes misses orders, but without finding a real answer, he left it at that.
Is talent also success?
Furthermore, every person is born with their own talents. One person naturally has a beautiful voice, another a pair of super-fast legs, and yet another amazing muscle mass.
That is very nice, but it is no guarantee that you will become a great singer, or a great marathon runner, sprinter, or top athlete. When I drive along the A32 past Heerenveen and look to the west, I pass the Thialf Ice Stadium.
Next, the ice temple of the Frisians and the Dutch. The place where Sven Kramer achieved many successes and where he still belongs to the world elite as a skater. A wonderful example of someone who truly got the most out of his talent!
Rogier to Sven
Why is Rogier doing increasingly poorly, and why is Sven Kramer still at the top after 15 years? A very important question with a very interesting answer: if you can answer the so-called "why" question, then you can also answer the "how" question.
Additionally, Simon Sinek writes this in his book: “Start with WHY! How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action”.
In a newspaper article, Ton van Veen, the CFO of the Jumbo empire from Veghel, states: "Not winning is not a bad thing, but you have to know why; and then make sure it doesn't happen again."
In short, Rogier told me in a personal conversation about his work and that it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to land orders, whereas it used to be a piece of cake. He had no idea why.
His company, where Rogier had worked for 15 years, was a successful organization and he did almost everything on autopilot, so he never got tired of it.
Incidentally, he had learned to sell from his manager and partly on his own, although he didn't know exactly how that had happened. In any case, he had never read a sales book, had taken a written “sales training” 19 years ago, but couldn't really remember much of it.
“Do you know Sven Kramer?” I asked Rogier. He looked at me in surprise and said: “Yes, of course, who doesn’t know him? A great skater, many times Dutch, Olympic, and World Champion, the best skater ever. He’s been at the top for well over 15 years.”
Rogier had apparently put more study time into Sven Kramer's career than into his own. I presented him with the following statement: "Sven has to train incredibly hard to stay at the top."
Suppose he trained 50% less now, would he still be at the top?
Rogier was very resolute in his answer: “Absolutely not. He might still be allowed to skate the 10 km at the National Championships every now and then, but a podium finish is out of the question for him, and he can forget about the World Speed Skating Championships entirely, because there are many skaters who will be faster than him.”
However, I looked Rogier straight in the eye and asked him the question: “Rogier, going back to yourself for a moment, how much and how often do you train and keep yourself in top condition as a sales professional? In other words: How can you expect to keep performing if you don't invest in yourself?”
There was a moment of silence on the other side of the negotiating table, before he admitted that he had done nothing in recent years to stay in top form. “I myself am the cause of the declining sales. I have done nothing to continue performing at my old level.”
Therefore, I haven't been taught it, nor have I been encouraged by my manager, because he doesn't know either. I will really have to work extremely hard to catch up on the backlog, otherwise things will really go wrong later on.
Together with Rogier, I drew up an action plan, and he started training extremely hard. After six months, he texted me: “Thanks for your good advice. My goals have been achieved by a wide margin over the past month. It is getting better every month.”
After all, what a positive change, and I enjoy my work much more. Thanks!” See, that’s what you do it for as a trainer, and of course, it also helps me achieve my goals.
A comparison between Rogier and Sven is easiest to interpret from Sven Kramer's perspective. He is a natural talent of extraordinary class. Inherited from, among others, his father Yep. Nevertheless, talent alone is not enough.
In contrast, when Sven joined the world's elite of speed skating at the age of 18, he had already trained for thousands of hours from a young age. On the bike, running, with weights, and of course, skating.
A strict lifestyle of going to bed on time, proper nutrition, exercising, resting on time, taking care of your body, et cetera et cetera. And that rhythm day in, day out.
Still, but of course there are more skaters who have done it the Sven Kramer way. But how do you become an even better skater than all those other skaters? By training even more? No, that stops at a certain point, because otherwise you become overtrained.
So you need to start refining your technique and your physical posture. Every improvement in a detail means a gain in time. It is all about the details!
Why does Sven beat Rogier?
Also, in other words: what does Sven do differently from Rogier and how does Sven stay at the top? The answer is as simple as it is logical: by training—on the ice, in the gym, in the wind tunnel, and on the bike. So, practical training in the place where it actually has to happen in practice: on the ice rink.
And then very often and very hard. But also by constantly thinking about how you can do things differently and better than the competition.
So, Sven will certainly have taken courses and read books, but no one has ever won a competition with only a written or digital course in skating, billiards, or golf. And this applies to both salespeople and managers.
You will need to continually maintain, refine and improve your skills.
In addition, pick up on new developments and make good use of them. Small details often determine the difference between success and failure in the end.
How did we help Rogier to become a 'sales champion' again?
The interactive training sessions we provide are the perfect way to achieve this 'championship'. In small groups of a maximum of eight people, we train using practical examples that you actually encounter in your daily work, and we immediately enhance your skills.
As a result of this, role-playing, ping-pong, and workshops.
It is tough, and you can use it immediately in your own practice the very next day. But note: training is fine, and you will also need to continue maintaining and further developing the new skills to remain optimally alert.
Likewise, train, train, and train some more, because 'use it or loses it!'
The Winner takes it All