By Donna Hruska
What is your biggest problem…prospecting? closing the sale? getting the interview? Whatever your weak point is, you can strengthen it by brainstorming.
Brainstorming is a process of creative thinking, of bringing all your energies intensively to bear on one problem within a specified time limit. There is a definite technique to this process which, if followed and practiced with enthusiasm, will turn your biggest problem into your strongest asset and see you to greater sales and profits.
Creative thinking as a means of solving business problems is not new. Years ago, International Business Machines Corporation received national attention for its slogan THINK! Cartoon writers still have a field day with that slogan. It is such good gag material because few of us take the time to think. We are too busy. In our hurry we sometimes find ourselves in ridiculous situations that lend themselves to cartoons.
A salesman, after all, must be a creative person or he is doomed to failure. He must constantly find new methods to generate enthusiasm, meet objections and find prospects or he will lose that spark of excitement that separates the top professional salesman from the mediocre peddler.
Years ago Richard Caughron, a top Agency Manager for the Prudential Insurance Company, instituted quiet hours for all assistant managers in his agency. For at least one scheduled hour every week, there were to go into their offices, close the door, take no telephone calls and receive no callers…no matter how urgent. That time was to be used to think creatively, to come up with new ideas and plans that would improve their operations.
“How can you expect to come up with new ideas,” he asked, “if you never give yourself time and opportunity to think.”
Richard Caughron is not alone in his belief in this theory. More and more salesmen and sales managers are insisting on scheduled thinking time. You don’t need to be a member of a large corporation or have a sales manager to tell you to do it. The independent salesman can help himself by scheduling his own thinking time.
Very well. But what do you think about once the office door is closed? Is there one method of approaching a problem that is more productive than another? There is.
For a number of years the Idea Development Laboratory in a suburban Chicago school district in cooperation with the Illinois State Department of Education has been studying and developing techniques for creative thinking. All of their findings and methods are worthy of study by any person who values creativity, but one of their techniques has particular merit for the salesman who needs new approaches to constant problems. It can be practiced by a group or by an individual. Although they have given it no particular name, salesmen who have tried it call it brainstorming.
The rules are simple.
- Set aside an hour of uninterrupted time.
- Find a secluded spot where there are no distractions, no interruptions.
- The only materials needed are a pad of paper, a pencil and a clear head.
- Write the specific problem you want to solve (for instance prospecting) at the top of the paper.
- Set a time limit. Start with fifteen or twenty minutes. Later you may wish to increase or decrease it or to set a minimum number of ideas.
- See how many ways to solve your problem you can write down within that time limit. Write down every idea that comes into your head,
whether it seems good or bad, sensible or foolish, possible or impossible.
Your goal at this point is quantity, not quality. You will find that your first ideas are the obvious ones. For prospecting methods you’ll probably start out with cold canvassing, direct mail to addresses in the telephone book, referred leads. Once you have the obvious solutions down, your ideas will get wilder and more innovative.
Creativity feeds on creativity. The very act of writing down solutions that you already know, the pressure of trying to come up with a large number of solutions will generate more ideas.
If you find yourself going blank, look over your list for ideas that can be further developed. For instance, salesmen usually think of referred leads as being names suggested by customers. Who else might give you a referred lead? What about your banker? your clergyman? Do companies that use your product have a professional associations? If so, what about contacting the executive director of that association, selling him on your line and getting referred leads from him? Is a directory of association members available?
- Sift out the gold. Now is the time to think of quality instead of quantity. Go over each idea carefully. Don’t be too quick to discard those that seem far out or unworkable, but search for the fresh approach that could be made to work. Take your two or three best ideas and develop them in full, on paper. Again, commit your thoughts to paper. Develop a plan of action.
- Put your plan to work. Don’t wait. Don’t allow doubts about its effectiveness to creep into your mind and dampen your enthusiasm before you’ve given your new approach a chance. Like any solution to a difficult problem, brainstorming will be as effective as you make it by giving it your full, all-out effort. If you do use it zealously, there is no limit to the new vistas it can open in your sales career.
Being a top salesman isn’t easy. There is no magic secret that will make you instantly successful. But there are fresh creative ways to make your job easier. Brainstorming will help you find them. A brainstorming session on a weekly basis will keep your enthusiasm fresh…and your wallet bulging.
ADVANCE COPY OF ARTICLE
PLANNED FOR PUBLICATION
IN SALESMAN’S OPPORTUNITY
SALESMAN’S OPPORTUNITY
1460 JOHN HANCOCK CENTER
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60611
Hurt Feelings
Leave a Reply