Don’t Try This At Home [Academy]

Years ago, it wasn’t unusual to hear about people getting hurt or even killed when they tried to replicate stunts at home they saw someone do on television. Then years later tv shows like Ridiculousness and movies like Jackass, made doing crazy stunts at home look fun, challenging, and romantic. It created a major acceleration in both dangerous activities and injuries when stunts on both of those shows were done by amateurs at someone’s home. 

So to keep from getting sued, companies started adding disclaimers to their programs clearly stating, “Don’t Try This At Home” or in the case of car stunts they would show a statement that said, Professional Driver, or Professional Driver on Controlled Course. It’s only because so many people have no common sense, who are showing off or under the influence that kind they need that kind of advice.

But believe it or not, seed sellers sometimes need to be given disclaimers too and reminded of things they should not be doing at home so they don’t hurt themselves. You’re probably asking yourself, what could seed sales reps possibly do at home that could injure them and their ability to get sales?

It all starts with where their mind is located, not their body. That’s right, the exact location of their mind determines whether or not seed sellers will sustain injuries that affect their success . Did you know 75% of all seed sales reps are hurt or severely injured mentally before they ever leave their office to make sales calls? And in the case of prospecting, that injury rate is close to 100%. 

Here’s the problem. Whether prospecting or calling on current customers, too much time is spent thinking about making sales calls when doing totally different, unrelated activities while still at home. If sales reps happen to farm for example, they’re often busy cleaning the machine shed, working on machinery, doing field work and other jobs around the farm. When doing things unrelated to making sales calls while thinking about selling may seem harmless, it actually lulls them into believing they’re prepared for those calls just by thinking about them. But by the time they force themselves to hit the road, their desire, and their ability to execute properly are injured to the point of being ineffective. That’s because they tried to prepare for sales calls in the sales territory while their brain was at home working on other things. When preparing to make sales calls you can physically be at home, but you can’t be doing other work when your mind is supposed to be focused on the road, practicing how to be in front of prospects and customers. You need to be practicing and role playing the call with a business associate, spouse, or partner and your mind needs to be present during that practice.

Top sellers must be prepared and know what to say when they’re out on the road if a prospect or customer brings up markets for example. But if they listen to the markets while at home prior to making sales calls, they’re badly injured mentally and more likely to get into price fights or lose their enthusiasm for making calls all together when markets are down. Seed sales reps can never listen to markets at home without being severely injured or handicapped when it’s time to make sales calls.  

Another thing seed sellers should never do at home is think about test plots or study their products. They injure their ability to think about placing the right varieties in the right fields for customers. They also hurt themselves by thinking about last year’s results, regardless of whether they were good or bad. Instead, they should be using the information gathered on the combine rides they did with customers and be focused on the goals they set based on the bushels per 1000 plant goal for each of the field they visited when on the combine.

So many sales reps have their sales either injured or killed by doing things they should not be doing at home.  

Do you want your sales to go up? Get your mind out of the house, off the farm and into the street where it can’t be hurt. Keep your mind focused on prospects and customers who will test your skills and keep you sharp. Force yourself to wake up and see what a dangerous thing training your mind at home can be when your physically involved doing something else. And stop watching Ridiculousness or Jackass, it will only get you in the mood to do something stupid that could injure your mind and body permanently. After all, there are already plenty of sales rep acting like the people in those shows. Lord knows farmers don’t need anymore.

Happy Selling,

Rod