“I want my sales reps to be ruthless”. This is the feedback I received from a regional sales manager at a solution provider client of mine. His comment got me thinking.

I honestly don’t know if he meant that he wanted his team to be a mean, cold hearted group of SOBs when it comes to selling. He may have. However, instead I think it was a little deeper than that.

I think what he meant was, something that I’ve noticed with a lot of folks both young and old. From the younger sales folks it seams like many expect too much for little effort. And from the older folks…well many have been burned with what worked before not working now.

Believe me, I could understand that. Probably better than most (and I have the scars to prove it).  If you want to be in sales, its imperative to understand what being in sales is all about. Don’t get me wrong you can do things to make it better but the reality is: being a salesperson is about high risk for high reward. It’s about seeking the un-comfortableness of confrontation and rejection because you know that beyond that lies winning (sorry didn’t mean to conjure up images of Charlie Sheen).

I know this truth isn’t what you may want to hear. You don’t hear anything about “hard choices or doing the hard things” from Anthony Robbins or from politicians in charge for that matter. They make it seem easy. Just read my book or let’s just tax the “rich” and it will solve our problems.  While I’m here to say it is not that easy.

So to my friend the sales manager, I say I agree.

Your sales reps should and must be ruthless. Not SOBs but they must be ruthless in their action. They must make sales calls when others won’t. They must keep going when others stop. They must run right through walls when others prefer to knock, and they must keep going, going, going. Ruthless in their determination, in their persistence, in their voracious desire to fail, learn, and win, preferably in that order.

Let me know what you think. And I don’t mind if you disagree. Constructive confrontation is a great way to learn.

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