The Expediency Factor

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

One of the largest rivals to success we encounter is based on a principle known as “The Expediency Factor,” which assumes human nature is to solve problems with the most convenient approach and least extra-ordinary effort. This means most people will perform the most expedient and easiest of actions, rather than those necessary to reach success. Individuals who fall prey to the Expediency Factor avoid obstacles and their actions usually have the least impact. The fact is every minute of everyday we have a subconscious battle based on doing what we know is right, hard, and necessary versus what’s easy and of little value. The Expediency Factor isn’t easily defeated; yet there are examples around you at any given time.

Here’s an extreme example, but one that you have not come across and likely weren’t aware of: in the 1960’s Tom Monaghan and his brother partnered up to open a pizzeria near University of Michigan by contributing $900 each. The restaurant fared well as long as school was in session; the cyclical nature of the business put strain on the partnership, which was eventually dissolved. Tom exchanged his car for his brother’s half of the business and brought on a new partner with pizzeria experience. Despite the new partner’s experience, he consistently made bad business decisions by overspending to the point he almost drove himself and the business into bankruptcy. Tom paid his partner’s debts, fearful it would happen again.

Tom went back to concentrating on the business and product. While he worked seven days a week from 10 A.M. to 4 A.M. the following day, his partner was back to over spending and filed for personal bankruptcy within two years. Tom, responsible for $75,000 of his partner’s debts, set up payment plans with the creditors and continued his fierce schedule. Tom paid back the debt by the following year, with a net profit of $50,000. This small streak of success was ended when a fire destroyed one of his flagship pizzerias, putting the business in jeopardy once again. Tom buckled down; knowing he could give up and it would be hard to work those long hours to recover the business, but he did it anyway. By 1967 Tom franchised the pizzeria by opening the first Domino’s. A year later, more than a dozen Domino’s were open and another dozen were about to open. Yet, the chain was expanding too fast; new stores were opening before the others had established themselves.

Within 18 months Tom had accumulated $1.5 million of debt. The bank carrying most of Tom’s debt convinced him to bring on a local businessman experienced in turning struggling businesses around. This eventually led to Tom losing control of his company on May 1, 1970 when his stock went to the bank and the local businessman. It was agreed that Tom could stay on as acting President without authority over business decisions. It was a great deal for the bank and the businessman, as who else would agree to work for a $200 weekly paycheck?

Twelve stores were cut and Tom was responsible for managing the rest; he travelled between stores and slept in his car to cut back on expenses. After several months, the local businessman concluded Domino’s didn’t have a future and agree to give Tom’s shares back in exchange for a single franchise location. Over the next decade Tom not only rebuilt Domino’s and paid back his creditors, but he created a new market for pizza delivery in, “30 minutes or less,” making Domino’s one of the largest pizza delivery franchises to date in the world and Tom one of the wealthiest people in the United States.

Tom could have easily given into the Expediency Factor at any point during the multiple setbacks—yet he didn’t. Tom made a conscious effort to overcome any obstacles in his way; every time he was knocked down he got back up to start again and kept going. He didn’t expect success overnight, and was ready to keep fighting for what he wanted, even if it took 20 plus years.

As I said, Tom’s experience is an extreme example, but it reminds me of a recent situation I heard about were a sales rep canceled an appointment with a high volume influential surgeon who could significantly grow the sales reps new product sales as a whole because they decided to chase down a single procedure instead. This decision had a short-term gain where the sales rep could report the procedure to their manager, but there wouldn’t be the same long term gain of converting a high volume surgeon, who could potentially become an advocate and consistent user the sales reps new product. Unlike Tom, they gave in to the Expediency Factor by taking the easy path.

This all goes back to how every minute of every day we all have an internal struggle with the Expedience Factor when we make those difficult decisions to do what’s easy versus what’s right and usually hard. Reflect on this next time you are making a decision, because by being aware of this we’re more likely to make those necessary course corrections to improve and achieve our goals. Just as self-discipline is the key to success, the lack of discipline will be a major source of frustration and under achievement as it causes us to make excuses and to sell ourselves short. Be focused, be aware, and decide to take the more difficult path if it will get you closer to improving yourself and your life.

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Opening the Doors of Opportunity

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

LinkedIn is recognized as one of the world’s leading sources of professional information. Today there are roughly 100 million profiles on LinkedIn and about 7 billion people in the world, equating to a multiple of about 70. LinkedIn also reports of those 100 million, around 300,000 are employed sales people and account executives. Based on the 70 multiple, this report suggests there are (70 x 300,000) 21 million sales people in the world. That’s a pretty big population of people hitting the pavement every day with the end goal of closing a sale. Yet, it takes a certain attitude and personality to not only be a sales person, but continue to be a successful one.

My first sales position was with Sherwin-Williams selling paint to local contractors. I eventually transitioned into my first medical device sales position; I felt proud, blessed, and excited to be in such a prestigious selling environment. I had gone from selling a product with simple applications, to selling complicated medical devices capable of changing clinical outcomes. It was a far cry from flogging paint, or as I liked to call it back then, “chemical coatings” (which made my product sound more sophisticated). Yet after selling medical devices for some time, I realized I did enjoy selling chemical coatings just as much.

It might be hard for some non-sales people to understand, but for those of us in sales, you know exactly what I mean: it’s in your blood and you thrive off of the rush of closing and making things happen. Aside from this rush, there is a particular characteristic I have consistently noticed through the years in those who build successful careers in one of the hardest and most stressful jobs—Perseverance. I came across a biographic account of a salesman, Bill Porter, who epitomizes this characteristic.

Born in 1932 after a difficult delivery, Bill developed cerebral palsy. This affected his ability to walk, talk, and control his limbs. By the time Bill was an adult most thought he was mentally deficient; the state agencies deemed him unemployable. This would mean a lifetime of dependence Social Services. Yet Bill was determined to work, be independent, and never collect a Social Services pay check. Bill refused to accept his condition as a disability and decided to obtain his independence by focusing on a sales career.

By 1959, Bill had applied to many sales opening, only to be turned down time and time again. Finally the Watkins Company reluctantly hired Bill, even though they believed he would not be able to effectively carry a sample bag. They gave Bill the territory in Portland, Oregon. At the time Oregon was a consistently vacant territory no one wanted. For thirty-eight years, Bill worked that same territory with a routine that was virtually the same every day.

Each morning on his way to work, he would stop by the shoe shine stand to get his laces tied as his hands were too disfigured to tie them himself. Next, he would stop by a local hotel to have the bell man help with his top button and clip on his tie. Each day, rain or shine, Bill would cover 10 miles by foot with his sample bag. To cover his entire territory it took three months to knock on every door. When he closed a deal, the customer would fill out the order form as Bill had difficulty holding a pen. In order to maintain his three month rotation, he would put in fourteen hour days. He would get home every night exhausted and sore, would have dinner, retire, and get back up at 4:45 AM the next day to do it all over again.

At first Bill had more doors slammed on him than you can imagine, but his persistence paid off as his customers started to get to know and expected him every 3 months with the latest and greatest products. Over the years, more and more doors started to open and stay opened; Bill started closing deal after deal. By 1984, after 24 years of his three month rotations, he finally reached his goal of being recognized as the sales person of the year at the Watkins Company. By the 1990’s Bill was in his sixties and continued to sell door-to-door, even though the buyer trends changed with the onslaught of big discount stores. He never once complained, but simply continued to do what he loved and did his best: hitting the pavement every day and selling door to door.

In 1996, at Watkins Company National Sales Meeting, Bill received the company’s most prestigious award, the “Chairman’s Award.” This award was given for remarkable courage, dedication, and perseverance. During the presentation, thousands of Bills coworkers rose to their feet, giving him a thunderous ovation. The CEO presenting Bill with the award was quoted as saying, “Bill represents the possibilities of what life can bring if a person has a goal in mind, then puts his or her heart, soul, and mind into meeting that goal.” Since then, a television film was made about his life, 20/20 has told his story, and he was a guest on Oprah.

Without a doubt, Bill Porter led a life of perseverance, proving to all naysayers that he was unstoppable no matter his seemingly physical limitations. I challenge myself as well as you to ask yourself, “Do I have the commitment, perseverance, and determination of Bill Porter?” With all the advantages we have, imagine the things we can achieve with not only the end goal of closing a sale, but the determination to persevere through any obstacle to get there.

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Fear is an indicator that you are on the road to greatness!

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Sean Moore | | 1 Comment

Watch this quick 17 second video before reading on…

We have all felt like that little kid on the diving board at one point in our lives; sooner or later we all experience fear. If we don’t it’s because we have decided to accept the status quo of our current situation(s), having decided to give up on doing more to get further and achieve more with our lives. I discussed in a blog a few months ago that “fear” stands for False, Events, Appearing, Real, which explains how most of the time the fear we feel never comes to pass, because fear stems from emotion and not rational thinking.

The best example I can give you of irrational fear is one that any parent has dealt with: my children are at the age where they fear monsters in their closets and under their beds. When this issue comes up, usually around bed time, we check under the beds, closets, or any dark corner to verify no monsters are lurking in the shadows. Once they have seen there aren’t any monsters, they feel relief and the fear subsides.

What’s interesting is as adults, even though we don’t fear monsters under the bed, we still have monsters lurking in our minds in the form of things like a fear of rejection, failure, or even success. Dealing with our adult monsters is similar to dealing with a child’s—act quickly and embrace them; don’t let them fester because the worst thing we can do is let them build.

I believe we have all experienced or heard of a situation in the field involving the “New Product Monster” – a TM is calling on a doctor that they have wanted to pitch a new product to for a while; they start to feel just like the little kid on the diving board, second guessing themselves. “Is this the right time? He looks busy… he looks agitated. What if the OR director sees me pitching the new product?” Just get in there! Don’t feed your fear in an attempt to justify your last minute reluctance or you will end up doing nothing and losing out, because not taking action by avoiding fear gets you nowhere.

The point is when you meet your fear head-on with tenacity you stretch yourself by getting outside of your comfort zone; you become stronger. Like that little boy jumping off that high dive, if he jumps he will not feel the same fear next time. Remember fear is normal and everyone deals with it, the difference is successful people deal with fear by understanding it’s a part of the road to success. They understand the old adage, “No guts, no glory,” that if we are not experiencing fear, then we are not taking enough action to pushing ourselves to grow. If we don’t experience growth, we will be stuck at status quo. As author Grant Cardone says “Fear is like fire, it’s not something you pull away from. Rather, it should be used to fuel the actions of your life.”

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Heart: Chadwick vs. Bell

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

A few weeks ago I wrote about Florence Chadwick’s 1952 swim between Catalina Islandand the California coast. Recently I was watching a film called, “Heart – The Marilyn Bell Story” with my children which fast forwarded to 1954, by which time Chadwick had become an international success, was regarded as the premiere international female marathon swimmer, and had gained celebrity status.

During the 1954 Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto, the largest national fair in Canada at the commencement of each summer, fair promoters were concerned with the gaining popularity of TV; people would rather sit on their couches, at home, rather than come to the fair. The promoters needed an over the top event to gain foot traffic and infuse the fair with revenue. They concocted an exhibition swimming race; a 32 mile marathon swim across one of the largest lakes in the world, “Lake Ontario,” from Youngstown, NY to the CNE port in Toronto.

Not only is Lake Ontario 32 miles of open water without shelter, a multitude of other attributes make it one of the world’s most difficult lakes to swim: it’s so large it can create its own weather; it’s known for 10 foot swells; it has astoundingly strong cross currents which make even expert swimmers feel like they are swimming in glue; and to top it all off, it is one of the deepest and coldest lakes in the world, peaking at a sweltering 60ºF in the dead of summer. No swimmer had ever swum across Lake Ontario, let alone such a long distance. CNE promoters, needing a pro to complete in the exhibition, recruited Florence Chadwick for a sum of $10,000 ($100,000 in present value) to take on the challenge.

During the same time period, Marylyn Bell was a 16 year old amateur club level swimmer who had just competed in her first 10 mile marathon in Atlantic City, placing 7th overall and 1st in the women’s category. Her coach, Gus Ryder, was perturbed the CNE chose to offer celebrity swimmer Chadwick a $10,000 participation fee and so much control over the race; one of Chadwick’s contracted conditions was she would choose the date and start time, with the obligation to give only three hours notice. Ryder thought the CNE would have been better off offered Chadwick’s fee as the exhibition’s prize, which would have given local Torontonian swimmers an opportunity of a lifetime. Regardless, Ryder was certain his young swimmer had the heart of champion and convinced a local newspaper to sponsor Bell’s exhibition entrance in return for the exclusive story.

On that September 8th at 8PM, Chadwick gave her 3-hour notice and the race was set for 11PM. The CNE promoters only gave Bell 25 minutes notice. As a result, Bell had to swim alone without her lifeline boat in the pitch black for the first mile, as her crew did not have time to position their boats. Chadwick became ill after several hours and had to quit, claiming to the media it was the oil and gas in the water from the surrounding boats that made her ill; she later admitted she had taken the opportunity for granted and had not trained as much as she could have.

While Chadwick pulled out, Bell continued to swim her heart out, even though the rules of the race were not in her favor. Bell could not come in contact with her lifeline boat, not even to drink or eat, and she didn’t even have a wet suit. Coach Ryder would hand her coffee cups of pabulum, corn syrup, lemon juice, and water on stick with a metal ring to keep her going. The planned route straight across the lake was 32 miles, but Bell actually swam much further due to strong winds and lack of modern navigation equipment. Conditions included 15 foot waves, a water temperature of 65 °F, and eels known to attack. Radio stations broadcast hourly reports of Bell’s progress and newspapers published “extra” editions throughout the day. Bell swam for 20 hours and 59 minutes until she finally arrived at breakwater near the Boulevard Club, west of the CNE grounds at about 8:15PM. A crowd of 300,000 people had gathered at the waterfront to give her an emotional welcome. The CNE decided to give Bell a $10,000 prize, including a new car and television.

While watching this film I was reminded of a recent field visit with a sales rep having relative new product sales success in comparison to her peers; I decided to ask her, “What is your mindset in relation to your success with this new product?” Her answer reminded me of a saying my mom would often repeat, “This too shall pass.” In other words, when things are going well, this sales rep quickly enjoys the success and moves on; in contrast, if she has set backs, she remembers these situations can’t last forever. This balanced perspective prevents complacency in good times by keeping her humble and appreciative of success, while still realizing things can change quickly. So whether you are having success or struggling, enjoy your success, but be ready to give it your all when faced with challenges, knowing that this too shall pass.

For those interested you can rent the movie on Netflix:

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Heart_The_Marilyn_Bell_Story/70039650?locale=en-US

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The Blame Game

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

I recently read about a gifted baseball player who was being scouted for the big leagues at a young age; he was thought of as the next big thing.  During a farming accident, he lost his forefinger and part of the middle finger on his throwing arm.  Doctors repaired his hand as best as they could and told him his baseball career was over, but this young man was not about to give up on his dream of playing professional baseball.  His hand eventually healed and he went back to his high school team.  Initially he struggled, but he refused to give up. 

If any of you have played baseball, then you know the forefinger is the most important finger when throwing a ball. He practiced relentlessly until he learned how to throw with only three fingers, over until he was back playing third base.  The coaches began to notice the interesting spin on the ball when he would throw it and convinced him to try pitching.  The “interesting spin” allowed him to throw an effective curve ball, a deceptive fast ball, and change-up. The extra topspin made it difficult for batters to connect solidly.

Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown went on to be one of the greatest pitchers in the early 1900’s.  He played for six different teams (including the Chicago Cubs), competed until age 40, won two World Series, and was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1949. Brown accomplished all of this because he led a life of “no-excuses,” by accepting his injury and deciding to continue pursuing his dream. Even if the naysayers thought it was physically impossible, he dreamed of playing professional baseball and refused to allow his circumstances to define his future. 

How much responsibility can you accept for your circumstances?  We live in a society where kids blame their parents, people blame the economy, society blames OUR elected politicians, struggling sales people blame the company, sales blames marketing, marketing blames sales…you get the point.  We always look for someone else to take the fall—as long as it’s not my fault, it’s not my responsibility to fix. But if you think about it, when we refuse to accept responsibility (or blame) for something, it only causes paralysis and we get stuck in a negative finger pointing/blame-game cycle where nothing changes.  Accepting blame and taking personal responsibility means that although it’s easier to blame others, we choose not to; we are solely responsible for our results, no matter what the circumstances are.  By doing this, we create opportunity for ourselves by acknowledging where we are, how we got there, and what we can focus on to change the situation.

Brown did not pass blame for the unfortunate and paralyzing accident; he accepted his situation and learned how to throw with three fingers instead of four. We too need to eliminate excuses.  Highly successful people focus on the things they can control and have an impact on improving their situation.  “I believe if it has to be, it is up to me, and I will shape my own destiny.” 

And remember, “Birds of Feather Flock Together” (refer to my blog http://medexec.org/eagles-dont-fly-with-turkeys-3/). “Be mindful of the company you keep…blamers and critics are dreamers gone bitter and scared, so empathize and then ignore.”

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