Recruiting People Power to Fuel Your Success

Overachievers are often self-reliant types who refuse to ask for any assistance.
They like to achieve everything on their own, so they can take full
credit. When you’re in sales, that approach is nonsense. The fact is that you
can do more and do it better by harnessing the power of people.

If you need proof, just look around at the major corporations. Do you think
they could be major corporations without hiring people? Think of yourself as a
mini-corporation, You, Inc. When you want to grow your business, you’d better
hang out the Help Wanted sign and start interviewing some qualified candidates.
Here are some tips for harnessing people power to fuel your success:

Identify the missing links to your success. What do you want to do that
you can’t do because you are lacking the time or expertise? As soon as
you know what you need and don’t have in terms of talent, skill, and
time, you have a pretty good idea of the people you need to hire or partner
with — people who have what you need.

Outsource time-consuming chores. Figure out how much you earn per
hour. If you earn $50 an hour selling and you’re cleaning your house over
the weekend when you can hire someone for $10 an hour to do it, that’s
borderline insane . . . unless, of course, cleaning your house is therapeutic
or something you enjoy doing. Hire someone so you have more time
to implement the strategies I present throughout this blog.

Get yourself an intern. Colleges and even some high schools have
internships or coop programs in which students are willing to work for
free or for a pittance in exchange for job experience. Look into these
programs for some cheap and often highly qualified workers.

Hire the talent you’re missing. Salespeople rarely hesitate to invest in a
gadget or service they think they need, but when I recommend that they
hire an assistant, they immediately find all sorts of excuses. The fact is
that hiring an assistant has never been easier. You can even hire a virtual
assistant, as explained in Chapter 13, so you don’t have to deal with
messy payroll issues and benefits. A virtual assistant works as a freelancer
for however long you need the assistant’s skills.

Cash in on R-Commerce (Relationship-Commerce). On its surface, the
economy is driven by the exchange of goods and services, but beneath
this surface economy is the real economy, driven by relationships. By
focusing on your relationships with customers, colleagues, and even
your competitors, you can grow your sales infinitely more than by focusing
simply on the exchange of goods and services. See Chapter 14 for
details.

Team up with a personal partner. It’s far too easy to skip out on your
responsibilities when you’re accountable only to yourself. By teaming up
with a personal partner to set goals and keep one another on track, you
can achieve much higher levels of success than by acting alone. In
Chapter 7, I show you how to choose a personal partner and work
together to ensure mutual success.

Pick the brain of a mentor or coach. Success leaves big footprints, so
follow those footprints by taking on a mentor or hiring a sales coach to
advise you. A mentor or coach can often point out shortcuts you may
have missed, expose you to incredible opportunities, and make sure
you’re doing everything you need to do to stay on plan.

Become a mentor. You may think that mentoring a student or a salesperson
who’s less qualified, less experienced, or less successful than
you would be a huge expenditure of time, and perhaps it is, but what
you get in return usually makes up for it. A younger student can often
teach you a thing or two about using the latest technologies or expose
you to new marketing and sales techniques. In addition, if you establish
a solid relationship, your student promises to become a major networking
asset later in his career.