Unforgivable: A Lack of Effort

I am furious.

OK, maybe furious is a tad strong. How about just disappointed? No, on second thought, I am Furious! That’s right, initial cap and everything.

I got a call from a company president a couple weeks ago. He had a salesperson who was underperforming and asked for my help. I was traveling at the time and called the sales rep from a noisy airport to talk about what our work together would encompass and what the desired results would be if she only put in the effort.

We talked for 15 or 20 minutes. I listened as she described her current sales challenges, then gave her some quick suggestions before my flight was called. One more thing…

I’m a strong believer in encouragement as a form of motivation. I read in a magazine just this morning that a written note of support is worth more than a $100 gift certificate (but not a $200 gift certificate, according to the article!). So, I made sure to include the fact that her boss had faith in her potential, otherwise he would not have called me. He would’ve simply have fired her.

I added my belief that she could succeed if she worked hard and I told her that I had helped thousands of others in similar situations. I told her that this was going to be difficult. But again, I reminded her that her job was to try as hard as she could. Never fail, I said, because of a lack of effort.

The plan was for her to follow my instructions for a couple weeks after which we would talk on the phone for a coaching call. She was to check in with me each day with her sales activity (the number of calls she made that day), as well as watch the first three webinars in “The Sales Challenge” program.