Gear. As an avid outdoor sports person, I love gear. In fact, I have a room dedicated to it, which we affectionately call “the gear room.”
I so enjoy just sitting in the gear room admiring it, taking inventory, cleaning it, organizing it, taking note of what I don’t have (gear envy is another side effect) and dreaming of how I can use it. That is what my gear provides me–access and options. Without it, some activities just wouldn’t be possible.
What I really love is getting new gear. New gear is exciting and since its new, it’s always better. Not many people buy new gear to downgrade. New gear is exciting, motivating, and can help push past boundaries–boundaries that are not limited by skills, but from equipment.
Gear Is Important to Both Sport and Sales
I recently got a new pair of skis. My old skis were about 3 years old and had certainly seen their days of use. They suffered from dings, cracked edges, scratches on the base, and had certainly lost some of the spring that they had. My new skis were fresh, made with current technology, new bases, sharp edges, and had that new ski bounce.
Lucky for me, the day I got to get out on my new skis was also one of the best days in recent memory (I’m not just saying that! For real, ski patrollers that have skied the resort for 20 years were making the same comment). It was as if the whole mountain was a pool table. Smooth, consistent, carve-able snow everywhere. No matter where you were, the conditions were amazing.
I skied so well, and I certainly credited some of that performance to… my new skis of course. Later when someone made the comment that you could’ve had two-by-fours on your feet and still had fun. I realized that yes, the conditions played a role too and I could have had fun on my old skis as well. But as much fun as I had on my new skis? I’m not too sure about that.
For a sales team, new gear can have the same effect and play a very important role in improving performance. There is no denying that new systems, refined processes, a new list of new qualified leads, or a new CRM can make selling more enjoyable and make an impact on performance. But it is not the only thing that can make you an even better salesperson.
Sales Skills Complement Gear
New skis feel great under the feet and can make a big difference, like any improved tool. However, there is no getting around the fact that there need to be fundamental sales skills in place first. I think the reason we go to new gear solutions so easily is just that, it’s easy. It’s not easy to look in the mirror and say that I’m not working hard enough, I’m not using the right technique, the conditions are bad, I’m just not that good, I’m only getting bad leads, my systems are not good, we’re too expensive, if we were more affordable I’d sell more… you get the point.
Yes, providing your sales team with even better gear or tools helps. Let’s not forget that once all these things are in place, they still need to have conversations with customers. If that isn’t as good as it should be… all that pretty, shiny, current, expensive gear is not going to make the impact that it’s capable of. Sometimes it’s not the gear that needs to be upgraded, but the gear users’ sales skills.
Thanks again, my trusted reader. Till then, good luck and good practice.
