Undoubtedly, The Beatles were a successful band. But was there more than talent at work to help build their success? Malcolm Gladwell has written some of the best selling non-fiction books of the 21st century. They include ‘Blink’, ‘Tipping Point’ and more recently, ‘Outliers’, which examines some of the factors that contribute to personal success.
One of the interesting points which Gladwell highlights is that there are sometimes aspects beyond an individual’s control which play an important part in success. These can be environmental, cultural or historical. And a second point is that there are also actions which an individual can take to increase their chances of success – despite the circumstances they find themselves in.
As salespeople our success is measured openly every month – and if there are things we can do (or not do) to increase our chances of success, we’d be wise to do these things. This short article will see what we can learn from Gladwell’s book – and then provides some actions we can take to apply these insights in our sales world.
Before we look at what we can do – let’s quickly look at one of the examples Gladwell cited regarding external factors which impact success but which are beyond our control (or are they?).
Sales lessons from junior hockey players
Ice hockey is the national sport of Canada – and has strong junior competitions from a young age. Like many junior sports, the better players have an opportunity to play in regional competitions as well as local competitions. By their mid to late teens, players are beginning to emerge who will go on to play professionally. It would be reasonable to assume that a regional representative team of the best 16 year olds would have a spread of birthdays across the 12 months of the year. This was not the case for a recent set of teams examined. In fact – 70% were born in the first half of the year (January to June) – and the remainder in the second 6 months. This seems surprising – given that by sixteen, many boys would be of a similar skill level and physical maturity across their peer group.
Why has this happened? And what does it mean for success?
A Canadian psychologist – Roger Barnsley – first drew attention to this phenomenon of relative age in the mid 1980s. It’s not that boys of age 16 or 18 are particularly different in abilities – the reason is that boys of 9 and 10 are. The cut-off age for being selected for rep teams is January 1. So a boy turning 10 on that date would be competing for selection with other boys who are also turning 10 much later in that calendar year – and there is a physical difference between boys of this age. But – shouldn’t this even out by the later teen years? Theoretically, perhaps, but by then a type of self fulfilling prophesy has set in. The older boys when selected in the first rep sides receive better coaching, play more games, and play with and against better players. In this environment it’s understandable that they will continue to develop their skills – and be selected as 11 year olds, then 12 year olds and so on.
So – in this environment – success is skewed based on age, not talent. The lesson is that – if we want to ensure we get the best talent and give people an even opportunity to succeed – we need to ensure that artificial barriers are not placed in front of people. Often these barriers are hard to see form the inside and can be processes that have been developed over time. Rarely is the intent to skew talent development –after all, the coach of any elite team would want to see all potential stars be given the opportunity to shine.
Some lessons for sales managers:
- Ensure that all team members are given opportunities to display and develop their skills and abilities. Tailor development programs to suit individual experience and skill levels;
- Provide ample opportunity for all to work in environments where they can display their talent. All territories are not created equal – and not all product categories provide the same opportunities. Especially for newer team members – ensure opportunities are fair;
- Don’t judge performance too quickly. Expertise needs time to develop – many managers have unrealistic expectations of what salespeople (especially new salespeople) can achieve in short time frames. And early success can simply be due to blind luck – be wary of quick comparisons between peer groups.
Some lessons for salespeople:
- Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where the odds are against us – despite our best efforts. In the hockey example, some younger kids were doing their best, but their chances against taller, faster and more skilled players were simply not even. So – don’t be too hard on yourself by making unrealistic comparisons to more successful performers. Continue Reading…
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