I am not a baker! I have been known to eat baked goods, but I am not a baker, except for PECAN PIES. I make one of the best darn pecan pies you have ever tasted. I have a friend, Paul Allard, who I worked with for many years. Paul is an excellent baker. I will only blame a few of my MANY extra pounds on his baking abilities.
Paul asked me for my pecan pie recipe and I was glad to give it to him. Paul came in the day after trying to make a pie and told me about almost starting a fire in his house because of MY pies. The next time he tried he told me about the hardest pie he has ever seen. To this day, Paul has not been able to make a pecan pie.
I thought, how hard can it be, I can do it. Paul is a GREAT baker, why can’t he seem to get it right?
You would think following a recipe should be pretty easy right? Well it isn’t. Anyone who has ever tried to cook or bake can tell you, sometimes following a recipe works out and sometimes it doesn’t.
Following a recipe for success can be just as hard. Once again, you would think that all you need to do is follow the footsteps of someone who is already successful and presto, you will be successful. No such luck.
If you analyze the two, baking and becoming a success by following a recipe, you will find a lot of similarities and a lot of vast differences.
#1 – Ingredient – When you bake the quality of the ingredients can make a difference. When working towards success what you put in makes all the difference.
#2 – Instructions – When baking it is important to follow the instructions as closely as possible. When working towards success you need to adjust the instructions to fit your personality and work habits.
#3 – Location – When baking your location can affect the finished products, altitude, humidity, water quality all can play a part. When working towards success your location can play a big part in your outcome. The state you are working in, the city, the location within the city can all have a drastic impact on the final outcome.
#4 – Techniques – When baking the technique you use to mix the ingredients, work the dough, roll and cut the pastry will all play a part in the quality of the finished product. When working towards success your sales, demonstration, probing, and closing techniques will all play a part of the quality of the sales call.
#5 – Equipment – When baking the type of bowl, pans, baking sheets, utensils, and ovens will affect the appearance and flavor of the final product. When working towards success how you use the tools you have like your sales catalogs, sell sheets, demonstrations, computer and sales support center will either help a customer decide to buy or kill your chances of making a sale.
Unlike baking, becoming a success doesn’t really have a set recipe. We can look back at things that other successful reps have done and try to avoid the mistakes. We can try to imitate their techniques and do what they do as closely as we can. We can try and mimic their personality and act like they act in front of the customer. We can even try to copy what they say and how they say it. But the truth is, until we make up our own recipe we will usually fall short of our goal of becoming successful.
So it is easy to see that although you may have a recipe for a pie or a recipe for success, there are a lot of factors that can work for you or against you on your quest for a great desert or a GREAT LIFE as a successful sales rep.
BON APPETIT
Lorin
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