Conrey is for Closers

The car business filled me with all sorts of witty sayings which I wrote off as clichés needed to survive the day at the time but the longer I’ve been in sales the more that I’ve seen the underlying value to them. One of the first I learned was “Buyers are liars” after I insisted to my sales manager that the customer couldn’t put any more money down. After he went in and bumped them for an extra $2000 down and closed the deal I tucked my tail between my legs and learned not to listen too much to the client.

However this post on Simplenomics reminded me that while Buyers are indeed Liars they often aren’t lying in the way that you think. They are lying because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. They are lying because it is the socially acceptable thing to say. They are lying because they don’t know how to give good criticism.

Listen to your clients. But make sure that if you’re only hearing what you want to hear or what you expect, you’re probably getting lied to and it is costing you money. Find someone you know will be brutally honest with you and have them be a customer for you. Get the real skinny from them if you can and then see how that compares to the feedback you’re getting (or not) from your current base.

Be sure you aren’t lying to yourself either. That deal isn’t closed until you have the signed contract and the check in hand. That client isn’t happy until you’ve heard for sure that everything is done right. That lead isn’t dead until you are sure that there is no way to go for you. That networking meeting isn’t useless unless you make it so.

The ability to work within a team is underrated. Everyone says they are a team player but few actually put the team ahead of themselves.

The fearlessness of when to stand up to someone you work with is underrated. Most people don’t want to rock the boat.

The courage to try something completely new is underrated. No one likes to be pushed out of their comfort zone.

The guts to admit you were wrong is underrated. Most people will duck, dodge or deflect blame.

The vision to sacrifice today for tomorrow is vastly underrated. Most people want to get it now while they can.

Hard work is ridiculously underrated.

Are you working with underrated people or everyone else? Are you underrated? Maybe you should be.

By now everyone has heard the parable and the chicken and the pig.  Be committed to whatever it is you are doing. A lack of commitment is a guarantee for failure

• If you say you’re going to be somewhere, be there and be on time (even better be early).
• If you say you’re going to do something, do it and do it better than they expect.
• If you say you’re going to hit a budget, hit it (even better come in under it).
• If you say you’re going to delivery by a date, deliver on that date (or early).

This all goes back to the theory of promises and deliveries versus overs and unders.   There is a huge difference between those who are over-promising and under-delivering and those who are under-promising and over-delivering. Think of it as a piggy bank, if you are constantly promising more value than you can take out of the piggy bank you’re not going to be able to remain credible for very long.  However if you are providing more value than your clients expect, you’ll be looking for a bigger piggy bank real soon.