Many of us who have been in sales and marketing for a while have been fortunate to have someone mentor us early on in our careers. The best mentors help us negotiate the potential roadblocks that could keep us from sales success. We lean on them because if we can learn from their mistakes, we won't make as many of our own.
As I have said in the past, a good mentor should have no financial connection to your business. I'm not saying they can't, but the best possible scenario is one in which their income doesn't depend on your production, like a manager. And although they may be a good mentor, it's not ideal.
When I first got into door-to-door selling insurance I didn't know what a mentor was. But there was a kindly older man who felt bad for me and the rest of our sales crew. He'd always say something like, "You're doin' good! Hang in there!"
This guy had been with the company for decades and was actually successful, despite a horrible stutter. He had the tenacity to park his car in front of someone's house for hours until they came home, just to get a check. He'd try to motivate us and give advice but since we we collectively hated our jobs, it was to no avail.
Within a year everyone of the people I had been hired with were gone, as well as one of our managers. That old guy probably saw a few hundred agents come and go through his career.
A few years after I left that job I ran into the old guy at the grocery store. He recognized my face but couldn't remember my name. When I asked how he was doing he said, "Doin' good! Hangin' in there!" Yes he was.
And now I am one of the old guys, giving pointers and tips to anyone, but not just sales people. If you have done any selling for a length of time, you already have great people skills. Experience in selling can translate to other areas of our lives.
For instance, when I speak to younger people, I explain that people will buy (or do things) on the approval of others. I go into this at great length in my book, but the gist of this is knowing this information can be a life hack, if you will. After all, we all are in sales.
Selling is a skill set that is easily transferable. Everything from dating to trying to get a kid to eat his spinach can be addressed with sales skills.
You can mentor someone who is in sales. That would be awesome. But you could also mentor someone who isn't in sales. Maybe they need basic business advice, or help with a business partner. Make sure you have no interest, financial or otherwise, in helping your protégé.
Think about your sales career and how you can help others, no matter what field they are in.
Chris Castanes is a humorous speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. His new book, "Nearly Motivated" is available on Amazon. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states.
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