- July 16, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Karl Scheible was my guest on this week’s edition of Meet the Sales Experts and Karl is not only a sales development expert, but he is also a professional race car driver! How many people do you suppose there are that can take claim to both of those professions?
Karl said that for him, the single biggest commonality between racing and selling is the ability to be in control of his emotions, a strength which, in selling, not too many salespeople have mastered. It was as a professional race car driver when Subaru, his first real employer, would send Karl to struggling car dealers to help them push cars – despite the fact that Karl didn’t view himself as a salesperson. However, if you listen to his very entertaining stories about growing up, you realize that he was always selling – because he had to. He had the intangibles – the will, the motivation, creativity and perhaps, the most important element of all; In his mind, he didn’t have the option to fail, which caused him to do whatever it took to succeed. Sounds to me like another thing that selling has in common with race car driving!
Listen to this week’s show to hear Karl relate these stories:
- how he personally outsold his entire school in a candy selling contest
- how he started his first business
- how he outsold his private school’s in-house bookstore and landed the rights to be its exclusive printing supplier
- what he sold his first business for – a Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card!
- his tips for sales success – it’s all about process
- the importance of having a purpose
(c) Copyright 2009 Dave Kurlan
