This is the second in the series on Personal Presence.
To be good at Sales Techniques you need to be able to apply them consistently. That inevitably means that you must foster the ability to be persistent. There is no point in being full of energy and frenetic activity if that means everything dies away at the first sign of resistance. How much grit do you think you have? How much grit do you need to succeed? Do you have enough perseverance?
In 2007 psychologist Angela Duckworth and her colleagues, defined Grit as "perseverance and passion for long-term goals". In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology they observed that individuals high in grit were able to maintain their determination and motivation over extended periods despite experiencing failures and adversity. According to the study grit is a better predictor of success than IQ.
Perseverance is more important than intelligence in reaching successful outcomes. This is perhaps not a surprise. However, it does mean we have to take Perseverance very seriously.
There are many stories of perseverance making the difference between winning and losing. When all seems dark and lost, if you have this trait, you can still win. It is not over until it is over.
One of the most striking examples was at the beginning of World War Two. In May 1940, only weeks after the war had started, all was apparently lost; the British army was almost completely destroyed and as Churchill said “the whole root and core and brain of the British Army” was hemmed against the Channel at the mercy of their enemy. But Churchill refused to accept defeat. Against all the odds he marshalled the resources and determination to not only survive but eventually, with hard-won allies, to defeat Hitler. As he said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
Hopefully, we will never be called upon to take on such a huge role, but sometimes your business life might look desperate. It is precisely then that you need perseverance. You need to follow the Japanese proverb “Fall down seven times, stand up eight”.
Tiger Woods is one of the most successful sports people in history, holding several golfing records. He was heralded world number one in 1997. But he suffered marital problems and then back injuries. Between August 2015 and January 2018, he competed in just one tournament, and as a result he dropped off the list of the world's top 1,000 golfers. From working hard to be number one, to not even figuring. In April 2019 he won the Masters, his first major in 11 years. He could have given up with no disgrace decades previously. His place in sporting history was assured. He did not give up and instead he reached number 5 ranking in the world. It is not in his makeup to give up. Physical pain and family adversity would not defeat him.
As businesspeople we must have the same quality of perseverance. Nothing will stop you. Not if it is important enough.
You might have to “burn your bridges” to ensure you persevere. David Sandler referred to burning the bridges of Reliance, Hope, and Comfort. If you rely on what has happened in the past, a big client for example, you will find it hard to continue when the client inevitably stops giving you business. If you hope that the new prospect will give you what you need you can be fairly sure the revenue will not appear. If you are not prepared to do things differently, relying on what feels natural and comfortable instead, you will not find it easy to make things happen. If, however, you burn your bridges it will give you clarity and a determination to do what is required. That often means relying less on being healthy and increasing perseverance; in other words, working smarter instead of harder.
Thomas Edison is quoted as saying “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” We at Sandler understand just how close failure is to winning. The very first Sandler Rule is “You have to learn to fail to win”.
Learning to fail is key to learning and using techniques. According to Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson “failure is not always bad. In organizational life it is sometimes bad, sometimes inevitable, and sometimes even good.” Fail fast, fail frequently, learn from those failures and move on.
It is hard to admit failure. We want to believe everything will work out for the best, we want to downplay our role in any failure (but we are happy to blame other people), we do not want to be the reason for a project to be compromised. As a result, tragedies can happen. The intense need not to accept failure as an option has led to air crashes, accidents in space, and hospital tragedies. Your business decisions might not carry the same level of mortal danger, but blindness to failure can mean business disaster. Perseverance should not mean doing the same thing repeatedly just because that was the original plan. Perseverance means not giving up learning how to improve.
In a 2019 study reported in Psychological Science, researchers Ayelet Fishbach and Lauren Eskreis-Winkler found that people appear to learn less from their failures than from their triumphs. Interestingly, however, the same study suggested we learn as much from other people’s failures as from those other people’s successes. What does this mean for business? We should learn from our efforts whether they are good outcomes or not and learn from other’s efforts too.
For details of practical exercises to strengthen your Perseverance, contact me and I'll send you an e-book. If you'd like help applying your Personal Presence and you're based in Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire Sussex or Kent, contact me and we'll see if I can help.
