I can remember when I was a child having a long list of people to choose from for my HERO. I had sports figures, Presidents, astronauts, actors and of course my dad to choose from. The hardest thing about finding a HERO figure back then was picking which person it should be, there really were no bad choices.
Today however things have changed a lot! So many sports figures are bad sports, Presidents are being charged with every crime imaginable, the space program has been basically disbanded, actors are in the headlines everyday with their drug problems, divorces, infidelity and crimes that were usually saved for the criminals. The lucky kids still have dear old dad but so many kids today come from broken homes and they don’t have a father figure to look up to.
I know this doesn’t sound much like a sales training post, and I guess it really isn’t so much training as it is sales “FEELING”.
The kids today that don’t have the readily available HERO’S grow up to be the sales reps of the future. As a matter of fact the newest crop of sales reps that I have been training lately all fall into that category. Now you may be asking what having a HERO and being a sales rep have to do with one another. PLENTY!
When you have a HERO you look up to someone and try and emanate that person through your actions. If you have no HERO or if the HERO you do have is someone with questionable morals and ethics then you emanate those traits and your actions as a sales rep become less than honorable.
So I guess the question is who can kids today hold in that highest position of HERO? I have an answer. I know of someone who spent his entire life working to help kids become better. This person taught kids some of the most important life lessons imaginable and kids learned from him. He was able to connect to kids of every race, religion, geographic area, and nationality. He got through to kids of extreme wealth and kids of extreme poverty. He was understood by the highly educated as well as the less educated and loved by just about every parent known to man.
He was a writer, a poet, and an inventor. He is part of some of the most cherished memories of kids from the late 1930’s to present day. He has inspired several movies, television shows and a national champagne celebrated each year on his birthday.
If you haven’t already guessed the HERO I am talking about, my personal HERO is Dr Seuss.
What better HERO figure, what better role model, what better person could a kid fashion themselves after today? As a sales rep who better to follow then a man who was creative, had an extraordinary imagination, knew how to best communicate with his audience, and loved what he did for a living. Dr Seuss was a teacher, each of his 46 children’s books taught a lesson. My favorite book of his is “Green Eggs and Ham”, many of you have seen me use it as a sales meeting. It teaches a child to try new things, it also teaches sales reps the same lesson along with persistence, attitude, and creativity.
His book “The Cat in the Hat” teaches children that they need to take responsibility for their actions and clean up the mess they make. A good lesson for sales reps also. His book “Horton Hatches an Egg” teaches children that when they make a promise they need to do everything they can to keep the promise. EVERY REP SHOULD LEARN THIS LESSON!
I could go down the entire list of Dr Seuss’s books and each one has a lesson for kids that sales reps also need to learn.
The dear Doctor lived from 1904 to 1991, he left his mark on the world and that mark will never be erased. He is a HERO to me, and he is a HERO to teachers and parents all around the world.
If you know a child or a new sales rep that needs a HERO, you can’t go wrong with Dr. Seuss.
Lorin
No comments:
Post a Comment