IT MUST BE MEASURABLE
As you read this book, you’ll find out soon enough that I enjoy telling stories, and at times I hope you find this book entertaining. Other times I think you might find what I write can be inspiring, and still other times you might even
find it motivational. But if that’s all, I’ve wasted your time.There’s simply too much at stake here.
You see the problem at hand: I want you to demand more from me. Entertaining, inspiring, and motivating you are easy. Teaching you exactly how to change minds using the skills of influence without manipulation is the tough part. But that’s exactly what you’ll find within this book, and you’ll find these tactics defined in an exact process.
When you have a process, you have a way of measuring what you are doing. When you can measure it, you can fix it.
Finding the Right Measurement
Selling for the New York Life Insurance Company was my first job out of school,andI think back fondly on those early days.I
was young and motivated to succeed. The measurements that were laid out for me were simple ones. “Two sales a week,ten sales a month, and don’t let us catch you hanging around the office waiting for the phone to ring! ”I guess you could say that’s one form of measurement.
Interestingly enough, by that form of measurement, I was a darned good insurance salesman. Some months my numbers were really good, and management would tell me, “Whatever you’re doing, just keep doing it.”Some months my numbers
were not very good, and management’s remarks weren’t quite as generous. I had a nagging feeling there was something I
was missing, butI also almost always hit those numbers by the measurement that was established for me, and I was therefore
defined as a good salesman. I had a good career with New York Life, and I will always be
grateful to that company for giving me a chance to sell. However, it was frustrating to chase those numbers without really
understanding what I was doing right or wrong, from a process
standpoint, and eventually I left the company and joined Xerox.
New York Life taught metolovetosell,andthenXerox
taught me how to sell. At Xerox, it seemed like you didn’t tie
your shoes without some kind of measurement, but therein lay
the genius of Xerox.
As you read this book, you’ll find out soon enough that I enjoy telling stories, and at times I hope you find this book entertaining. Other times I think you might find what I write can be inspiring, and still other times you might even
find it motivational. But if that’s all, I’ve wasted your time.There’s simply too much at stake here.
You see the problem at hand: I want you to demand more from me. Entertaining, inspiring, and motivating you are easy. Teaching you exactly how to change minds using the skills of influence without manipulation is the tough part. But that’s exactly what you’ll find within this book, and you’ll find these tactics defined in an exact process.
When you have a process, you have a way of measuring what you are doing. When you can measure it, you can fix it.
Finding the Right Measurement
Selling for the New York Life Insurance Company was my first job out of school,andI think back fondly on those early days.I
was young and motivated to succeed. The measurements that were laid out for me were simple ones. “Two sales a week,ten sales a month, and don’t let us catch you hanging around the office waiting for the phone to ring! ”I guess you could say that’s one form of measurement.
Interestingly enough, by that form of measurement, I was a darned good insurance salesman. Some months my numbers were really good, and management would tell me, “Whatever you’re doing, just keep doing it.”Some months my numbers
were not very good, and management’s remarks weren’t quite as generous. I had a nagging feeling there was something I
was missing, butI also almost always hit those numbers by the measurement that was established for me, and I was therefore
defined as a good salesman. I had a good career with New York Life, and I will always be
grateful to that company for giving me a chance to sell. However, it was frustrating to chase those numbers without really
understanding what I was doing right or wrong, from a process
standpoint, and eventually I left the company and joined Xerox.
New York Life taught metolovetosell,andthenXerox
taught me how to sell. At Xerox, it seemed like you didn’t tie
your shoes without some kind of measurement, but therein lay
the genius of Xerox.
Xerox was obsessed with the mechanics behind what we
were doing at all times. Initially, they had no interest in how
many sales I was making, but rather in the process I was following to make those sales. As a matter of fact, during the
initial sales training with Xerox, which was considered some
of the finest in the world, we never mentioned a copier. For
training purposes, we sold answering machines and airplanes.
The theory was, to perfect the process, the product itself was
irrelevant.
With a repeatable, predictable, and, above all, measurable
process in place, I no longer had the nagging feeling that I was
missing something. When I sold well, I could tell you why, and
when I didn’t, I could tell you why. I haven ever forgotten the
lessons Xerox taught me, and today I base a lot of what I teach
on the principles they instilled in me.
✸ ✸ ✸
The ultimate test of what you will be learning will not be whether you can understand what is being taught.
The ultimate test will be whether you can implement what you
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