GrandPa's Stories!

When I was a kid, I seemed to have an endless capacity to listen to my grandfather tell his hunting stories. I would sit on his lap or in the yellow leather chair across from his. Countless stories about how he stalked the woods of Vermont with Uncle Vic and Herb Vanote hunting game and fending off any number of creatures of the wild. As he was telling a story he would sometimes whisper as they were approaching a deer, "see him right over there, you can see the white on his chest against the bush," and I would whisper right back, "so what happened next?" I was totally engaged, whispering because I was afraid that I would scare the imaginary deer if I spoke too loudly.

Story telling is a great way to communicate with others, particularly in business. I use stories daily with my staff and peers to get my point across and to give some context to the point I am making. Anecdotes work well too and they have the added benefit of being shorter.

In several of my most recent gigs I have been responsible for sales. As the sales leader I have to take the pulse of my staff and how they feel about the likelihood that a certain deal will close. Forecasting is super important and your CFO will appreciate it if you do a good job here. We all have percentages, but I like hearing from the producer on how she feels about the deal, next steps, opinions of coaches and influencers, etc. Combine that with well thought out and designed percentage stages and you improve your forecasting accuracy.

In every staff I have ever managed, there is always one person who "pops off" and "guarantees" a deal will come in even if all the evidence doesn't seem to be adding up. Often when I question the deal, eyes fire back at me that perhaps I don't understand or maybe the person thinks I don't know what I am talking about…and I have set the trap for my real life story which follows.

Twenty years ago I worked for a company selling portfolio accounting software. I had a deal on the table with a respected firm and the contract was in the hands of the prospect ready to be signed. At the end of each quarter, you had to present yourself to the head of sales and "commit" to him what was going to close. This was particularly important as we were a publicly traded company and we needed to hit our sales numbers.

So I'm sitting in the sales leader’s office. He is writing the deals I am committing to on the white board and tallying up the numbers when we come to my last deal. I tell him the prospect has the contract and feeling proud of myself I say, "I guarantee this deal will come in". The old sage looked at me and muttered something about my cockiness and inexperience, then ended the meeting with the following words, "if you're gonna pop off in front of me like that, it better."

Days passed and no contract came through the fax machine, no matter how many times I checked. I started calling my contact and leaving numerous messages on his voice mail. No contract arrived and no call was returned. The quarter closed and I was the laugh of the sales floor. No only didn't Farber get the deal he "guaranteed" but he couldn't even get a returned call. So I did what any cocky and inexperienced salesman would do and I called my contact’s boss and left him a message outlining how unprofessional it was for his guy to not return my calls, etc. "I'll fix him,” I thought. Minutes later, the senior guy called me back to say "Chris, I'm sorry John didn't get back to you, unfortunately he had a heart attack and passed away". Floored, I said "I'm sorry" and hung up the phone.

The lessons from this story are many. The highlights are:

• I guaranteed a deal when all I was asked for was a commitment. There are no guarantees in life or business. 

• I went over my champion’s head to his boss and left a nasty voice mail.

• I didn't cover my bases in the sales process because there was one and only one guy who wanted what I was selling. When I called back a week later to the senior guy to see if he could sign the agreement, I heard him laughing as he hung up on me.I have been telling this story for decades and it works every time.

Ask anyone who has ever been on my team and they will all remember that story and its related lessons. I have volumes of stories and I take pride in my ability to pull them out (and poke some fun at myself) to help others as they navigate their careers. If you're a sales leader, feel free to use this story. As your career progresses, you will live your own stories and have the confidence to share them with others. While I may never have the imagination to create characters and stories the way my grandfather did, I do believe my real life experiences in business will be remembered for some time.

My Best,