My Pocket, Not Yours!

My Pocket, Not Yours

Someone once said, “Happiness is in My Pocket.”

My pocket, not yours, is a philosophy I developed with over 40 years of experience in sales.  The philosophy is nothing new but offers the best road to success.  I consider myself a spiritual person, and I follow the Lord as closely as possible, but in the world of sales, you are in a very competitive game, and I so hate to lose.   But at the same time, you must do things the right way.

Winning and losing in the sales business has much to do with your current and future earning potential. It can also determine the direction of future career opportunities.  I have worked with some great salespeople, now CEOs of influential organizations. You see, no matter the organization or your business, sales is the food that feeds the organization.  Sales within your company drive jobs and revenue growth, affecting macro-events or micro-events within your corporation and in your day-to-day sales life.  Change creates opportunity, but considering the theory of my pocket, you need to be on top of every situation to control the outcome of the opportunity.

When I lose, I always see my commissions, my hard-earned money, in someone else’s pocket.  Thereby, I came up with the phrase, “My Pocket, Not Yours.”

It means I want to win the deal by utilizing my capabilities and years of experience.  I intend to pursue this project correctly, but I intend to win and put the commissions in my pocket, not yours. In the movie Wall Street, Michael Douglas, who played the role of Gordon Gekko, said, “Greed is a Good Thing.” Greed is not bad as long as I follow my spiritual teachings to get there.  I will just beat you to the mark the right way. Simply speaking, I am going to out sell you.

Many friends have heard me mention the term “Drysdale Disease.” It is a phrase or experience made famous on the television show Beverly Hillbillies.  A banker cared for a wealthy family in Beverly Hills, the Clampetts.  Mr. Drysdale was a lot of things, but most remembered was how people revived him if he ever fainted in their presence.  Waking, Mr. Drysdale took a roll of $100 passed under his nose like smelling salts and never failed to bring him back to life as long as the wad of $100 bills was large enough.

In a nutshell, I have always seen this analogy as my motivation to succeed, no matter the obstacles or the situation.  Every time I did not stand on the stage at the President’s Club, someone somewhere was in my pockets, and I was losing money as commissions pay bills.  Closing deals early in the game was always in my best interest.  As one of my bosses used to say, a mortgaged salesperson has great external motivation!!

I like to live in the moment, but I hate so much to lose.

Remember, in all situations, you can only deal with today because yesterday is already in the books, and I can only worry about tomorrow at 12:01 am.  I need to be successful in this day.  So, as I said in a previous article, a sales representative needs to wake up in the morning knowing their goals for the day and the route to success.

One of the keys to success is to play your sales strategy like a great chess player. You must think ahead and outthink your competition.  You must think of every possible scenario and devise a possible answer to every situation.  Now, let’s be honest: you cannot figure out every angle, but you can minimize the chance of errors or a wrong decision.  You also learn how to tact like a good sailor.  When they move, you counter with a better move.

So, the essential summary of this subject is not to lose.  To not let anyone else collect my check. It adds reason to how you approach your competition.  Within reason and the spiritual laws of my Lord, I pursue a deal to win, a pursuit to put my commissions into “my pocket,” at all costs, within reason.  My goal is to always stay on the right side of things.  I like to win, but I believe in treating people justly and right in the process.

Life is a challenge, and a sales career makes life more interesting in many positive ways but with opportunities for harmful activities.  Avoiding distractions and procrastination is critical to winning.  You will encounter several chances to win in doing your job, but as in any competitive business, you do not want to set a tone of losing.  And besides, my ego says that failure is not an option.  So, play to win by investing in every aspect of the process to close every opportunity.

In later posts, I will share with you my sales process, which is the same as any good consultative sales process, but the one I use is called PECC for Prospect, Engage, Consult, and Close. In this process, you get the client to assist in tweaking your sales solution to successfully handle the unique needs of your software/device/service.

If you answer a customer’s questions and get the client to consult with you on how to win the project, as I instruct in my PECC Sales Program, you should put yourself in a great position to win every deal.  You see, there have been many times when I have had a customer lock out the competition because I showed value in my offering, and my offering, at the same time, met a lot of their management objectives.  These are the same management objectives that many executive-level managers are paid bonus money on yearly.

I have a habit developed in my sales life that I wake up with my deals on my mind.  I am looking for ways to better provide for my family and take advantage of the opportunity to put my family in a better financial condition.  Put us on the road to generational wealth.  You can make serious money in sales, and I need to win as many deals as possible.  I have a long way to go and a short time to get there.

So, start your day in the know and do everything to win, justly and fairly, but I like my commissions in My Pockets, Not Yours.

Chase your competitors like a bunch of wild dogs.  Good Hunting!