The Sales Archaeologist

Those of you that know me well know that I am a huge music fan. I particularly am a U2 fan and have been for decades (feeling old). That said when the newest DVD from the sky down was released I just had to have it. I finally found some time and watched it this week and it contained some great sales lessons.

For those of you that think this is a stretch – pulling lessons from a U2 DVD that is - may I remind you that when I heard Guy Kawasaki speak back in September he was encouraging people to watch the newly released Justin Bieber DVD because it contained lessons – come on! If “the Bieb” flies when it comes to lessons then certainly U2 is credible.

The interesting premise of the film is the struggle that the band went through as they transitioned from the highly successful and Grammy Winning Joshua tree album to a different place. The world was different, they were different and there was pressure to top the unstoppable success they had already seen – how do you do that. That was a challenge that had destroyed many bands before them, but U2 pulled it off.

The combinations of those elements created great internal pressures that resulted in the artistically pioneered Achtung Baby and that story is explored in the documentary. When it comes to sales lessons I realized that the transition sales teams and sales people sometimes need to go through are very similar to those encountered by bands. We are constantly helping individuals and organizations transition so some of the comments made by the members of U2 resonated with that experience.

• You need to leave the former band behind to create the new image and sound – they had to leave the bluesy Americana inspired sounds of the Joshua tree behind even though that had been their greatest success to date.
• You need to have the right environment that is conducive to change and creativity – in this case it was Berlin around the time the Berlin wall was falling. Being in the thick of change helped them to change.
• Sometimes things don’t start to happen positively until the dissent and disagreements are out in the open – a lot of fighting.
• Once the greatness starts happening there is no stopping the flow, getting it to happen initially is the challenge.
• Sometimes the best moments come from the most frustrating struggles – notice how the song one resulted from their struggle to get the song mysterious ways right.

What’s the point? (Other than the blatantly obvious Frank is clearly into U2)

Change isn’t easy for sales people or sales teams – but the world is changing. Methods and skills need to not just move with times, they need to be ahead of the curve. Is your sales organization able to adjust? Are they adjusting? Are you as an individual moving from point A to point B or are you stagnating?

These questions can be tough to answer and the easiest thing to do is not ask them. The easiest thing to do is to simply keep repeating what you have been doing. Much like music however that will eventually fizzle and get old. There is a strong case to continue re-inventing your technique and to keep growing. In fact if you are not growing you are probably going backwards.

We have some free tools that might help answer that question – why not Grade your Sales Force for example?

Why not download a free case study on a technology company ?

Why not schedule a time to speak with me about your team?