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Are you relevant? Do you make a difference to the customer? Where do you make the most impact?
I was almost 40 years old before I realized how vastly different people could be. Perhaps a slow learner, I knew there were differences. Some people arrive early at work, others do not. Some people are driven by money, status, pleasure or any one of any possible motivating factors. Yet again, others are not motivated at all.
For those who are driven, measurements and metrics are often used to compare the past to the present, in hopes of improving their future. In our industry, many distributors use EW’s annual Top 100 report and NAED’s PAR Analysis as comparisons. Suppliers often dig into NEMA reports and market data for insight. And certainly, sales representatives start with monthly commission reports to assess their relevance.
The recent ramping up of market consolidation in the electrical distribution industry, supplier representation and to some degree suppliers/manufacturers is changing the dynamics of local decision making. These market changes raise the question for many sales representatives: Will I be relevant in the morning?
In an instant, who we work for, the suppliers we represent and the customers we sell to can change. Yesterday, you were selling to “Customer XYZ” and tomorrow they’re a subsidiary of “ABC.” In just a few weeks or months, the relationships you created over the years are toppled like a sandcastle. Perhaps now just dust in the wind.
These unexpected events discourage even the best sales representatives at distributors and suppliers. But fear not, the best of you will always be relevant.
In an article I penned last December for EW, "Are We Engaged or Just Flirting?," I compared the difference between being engaged versus “just flirting.” Herein, my thesis is: “Sales representatives who are engaged will always be relevant.”
There’s a saying I learned long ago: “Work goes where work flows.”
Maybe you’ve heard it before. Google has not. Seriously, I tried to Google the phrase for the original author’s name and got zero results. Even my MS-Word editor wants to compound the words “work” and “flow.” I had to force Microsoft to accept the space between those two words.
Finally, the humans have beaten the machines (and AI). I cannot express how much this moment satisfied me. I am relevant. I knew something Google and Microsoft did not. Wow! Give me just a moment to bask in that glory. Hang tight. Wait. Wait for it.
Okay, I’m back from the celebration. It was a cool party. I might even change the epitaph on my tombstone to, “He knew something Google did not.”
The meaning of the saying, “Work goes where work flows,” is simple. We all know the relevant people in our business. They are the ones that get $hit done. Maybe that person is out front. More likely the person is in the back, just doing stuff. There’s an inbox and an outbox. The work just flows, day in and day out. That person, the relevant one, is valued by everyone who “submits to the inbox.” Each of us is relying on that person to produce results in for the outbox.
It’s so simple to understand, except for Google and Microsoft. They’re still focused on “workflows” to increase outcomes.
Let’s investigate further and consider the concept (or tool) of email. Do you hide behind emails and text messages? Do you use them to “document” your conversations? Perhaps we all do.
The art of staying relevant
Technology is great, but consider that if you pressed send more than three times for the same topic in the one hour, couldn’t you have clarified the conversation with a telephone call in less time? Pick up the phone and be relevant.
Can you read the body language of your customer in an email? Can you hear the tone of their voice?
Relevance is “quality.” Relevance is reacting appropriately, quickly and producing outbox product of value to the customer (internal or external). Often, relevance is original thought. Relevance begins with listening directly to the customer and formulating an action plan for success together. At times, plans are repetitive (as in, it’s been done before). From time-to-time plans become original and untested. Some originals succeed, while others do not. Original, nonetheless.
On the other hand, (AI) artificial intelligence has no original thought. AI is nothing more than output presentations of the best historical successes mathematically reported first. Think, “It happened before, most successfully. Let’s do that again.”
Those of us at a certain age have seen repetitive actions washed away, like the sandcastle on the beach. Seriously? How did the world’s greatest shopping catalog (Sears) get replaced with the world’s greatest shopping catalog (Amazon)? Perhaps, repetition without original thought was the cause. Certainly, the lack of relevance. What is the difference between Kmart and Target? Today, only one is relevant.
Now that we know how to be relevant, perhaps we should focus on “where to be relevant.” The answer to that question will differ for each of us, based on personality and goals (or drive).
A life lesson from the plains of South Africa
To best illustrate my point of where and how electrical salespeople and managers can stay relevant, I’ll begin with a fascinating real-life event my wife, Cheryl, and I experienced in the wilds of Africa. In 2018, we joined a photo safari to South Africa. We rode on 20 game drives in 10 days. The entirety of the experience cannot be overstated. On our first game drive, I experienced the greatest metaphor for business I’ve ever known.
As the sun set on a vast plain of Africa, our extended Land Cruiser joined two others parked near a pride of lions. Yards measured the distance between the lions resting and our vehicles. In the distance, perhaps a quarter mile away, a lone wildebeest stood on the open plain. There is not a tree within a hundred yards of the wildebeest.
Slowly, a lioness rose to her feet and patiently walked toward a creek bed halfway between us and the wildebeest. With just a few hours experience in Africa, we all know that one wildebeest alone makes no sense. We surmise the herd has moved on, leaving an older member of their clan.
Patiently, the lioness stepped forward covering the distance to the creek in a few minutes. Moments later, we saw her body creeping on her belly, as it rose from the other side of the creek. In an instant, we knew the circle of life was about to take place before our very eyes. Out of the corner of our view, a second lioness made its way to the creek bed. She too covered the ground to the creek in a methodical two-minute walk. There was no rush to the kill.
The two lionesses coordinated crawling to triangulate dinner for their family. Our Land Cruiser is still parked yards from the resting pride. And yet, there was no movement from the wildebeest. Not even a turn of the head came from the standing, perhaps aging animal.
It’s a vast plain. The low creek is halfway between the pride (near us) and the circle of life about to take place tonight. The lionesses crept every so quietly. We didn’t understand why the wildebeest didn’t move.
And then, in an instant, out of nowhere, from the right side of our view a rhinoceros raced in. This huge animal, as large as the other three animals put together, ran directly between the wildebeest and the lionesses. Every one of us seated in the Land Cruisers is shocked. Completely unexpected, the rhino quickly approached the scene. Even our experienced guides are surprised. This is the wilderness of Africa. There are no rules, and anything can happen, on any day.
The speed of the rhinoceros is no match for the two lionesses. They immediately change focus and began to chase down the massive animal. My heart raced as fast as the shutter speed on my camera. The whole scene was far off and moving quickly, and I snapped the shutter of my camera many times, hoping to catch anything in the lens.
And I did. I got distant zoom photos with low clarity in the setting sun. But I do catch it. The lionesses are pawing at the rhinoceros’ back feet trying to take down the animal, as you can see in the photo above. Each reach of their paw is another attempt to topple the larger beast.
But alas, the lionesses tired of the chase. It was a straight sprint on the plains of Africa, and the rhinoceros had more stamina for the distance than either of the two queens of the jungle and won that night’s race.
Or perhaps the rhino had more “on the table” at risk. When the chase ends, we are all stunned. Passengers in the Land Cruisers didn’t know what to think or say. We just looked at each other with confusion.
And what of the lone wildebeest? Where did the pride eat that night? I cannot say. The chase for the rhinoceros ended many football fields from the wildebeest opportunity. There was no circle of life on display this day. Not one of us saw the wildebeest leave the open plains in front of us. And yet, here we sit, just yards from a pride of lions.
Is this a metaphor for business? Absolutely! On my return to work my first action item was to post photos of the missed opportunity near timeclocks in our branches. Above them I place the appropriate catch phrase: Are you relevant? Where will you be relevant? Will your pride eat tonight?
The moral of the story is: When the landscape of your opportunities changes in an instant, quit chasing rhinos.
Editor's note. Want to see more of Rock's South African safari? Click on this link. It's definitely worth a watch.
And if you are looking for help on solidifying your customer relationships, check out his article, "Are We Engaged or Just Flirting?"
