We ask sales managers what they would do if they had an extra hour in their week. They always say they would get out in the field and coach their reps. Yet, they don't.
Many years ago, a large American shoe company sent two sales reps to different parts of the Australian outback. A while later, the company received a telegram from each. The first said, 'No business here - the natives don't wear shoes. ' The second said, 'Great opportunity here - the natives don't wear shoes. '
There are four people in my life, not counting my reps who know everything, two of whom are my parents, that know everything, so that when I feel like I need to let it out, I can talk to any of those four people.
The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow.
The biggest deal for me was that all 24 winners are placed on the Billboard CD of the Year, which went out to 500 of the biggest Music Reps in the business, from radio and press to management and booking.
There are no shortcuts—everything is reps, reps, reps.
Music is not like sports, where you can go and do a hundred reps in a gym and come out and be all buffed up.
The only reps you don't grow from are the ones you don't do.
Too often, sales reps simply regurgitate their presentations and expect to land the sale. It doesn't work.
I love wine, I love wine reps, I love everything about the drinking world. In fact, as a recovering alcoholic, I adore the drinking world. I can't participate in it any longer and the only thing I don't like are people who don't listen to the words that are coming out of someone else's mouth. Which is why I try very hard to listen to the words that are coming out of someone's mouth.
What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn't think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.
