Creating a Sales Superbloom

A few weeks ago I was on a call with a client and he asked me if I had heard about the superbloom in Death Valley. I hadn’t. He went on to explain it as a phenomenon in which the hottest place on earth and the driest place in North America is blanketed with the vibrancy of an array of colorful flowers. After our call, I decided to look it up. The photos were stunning. You can see for yourself here. I became curious about how often this happens and what causes it. What I learned was that the last time a superbloom happened in Death Valley was a decade ago. In the meantime, seeds called ephemerals were lying dormant before they burst and show their color. And what causes them to bloom? Above average rainfall, beginning with a soaking rain and then sustaining moisture throughout the fall. This couples with moderate temperatures and you bear witness to the extraordinary golden and purple colors that you see in the photos above. 

 

I was speaking with the Bluestone Bank Sales Team the following week and I decided that this was the perfect illustration to use. The sales leaders of Bluestone had invited me to come and share my story—both as their client and as a sales coach. My experience with them is as an ephemeral seed. I met Alan Benjamin, who is one of the Sales Team leaders and the Branch Manager of one of their largest locations. We met while serving on a board together a handful of years ago. I stopped serving on that board and we stayed in touch from time to time. When I had a banking need about three years ago, I called Alan and he was right there to help. Then, when we founded BLG, I decided I wanted to work with a local bank and there was no one else I would rather have as my banker than Alan. Why? Because when Alan and I connected, we did it on a personal level. I had the opportunity to get to know him. In doing so, I really liked his human-centric approach. When I called him three years ago, he gave me excellent advice even though it really didn’t benefit him at all. That’s when I knew that I really could trust him. As a result, not only did we open accounts for BLG with Bluestone, but we moved our personal accounts and our other business accounts over as well. 

 

So much of sales is planting seeds and creating the right conditions for them to bloom. Increasingly, I see salespeople rushing their business development efforts. They expect immediate results in networking events, handing business cards out like they are candy to kids on Halloween. They don’t slow down enough to understand a prospective client’s real issues and so they rush to a solution that isn’t what is truly needed and they end up with no sale. They do this because their attachment to the outcome is so strong that they aren’t willing to slow down, be patient, and create an enduring relationship that will produce a sale, repeat business, and ongoing referrals. Therefore, they walk past opportunities that are literally right in front of them. 

 

In the most recent Bethesda Sales Academy session, we talked about “Follow Up that Actually Works.” Nearly all of the content that I shared was about how to become a better leader in the sales process because it’s the leadership in the process that actually makes follow up more like a conversation as opposed to feeling like you are going fishing in the ocean with a blindfold. In the group coaching portion, one of the participants said, “As I’m sitting here listening today, I’m realizing I don’t have enough conversations going on because I’m not dealing with this at all.” He was acknowledging in real time that the lid to his business was that he was just collecting all of the low-hanging fruit. Anything that wasn’t a fairly immediate yes was forgotten. The salespeople and business owners who get wealthy are the ones that are planting the ephemeral seeds, providing ample water in the form of valuable information, and the right temperatures in which they can bloom. 

 

A few months ago, I was at lunch with a client and his wife. We were talking and his wife said, “He’s wanted to work with you for a year.” I had no idea that this was the case. We took some time to unpack what it was that created some curiosity in the first place and what led to us eventually working together. We both participate in a monthly business mastermind at a local cigar bar. In listening to some of the advice I had given during those sessions—which I was freely offering—he began to imagine how I might help him. In case you missed that, this happened over the course of a year.

 

Or take another example of a new client who is now working with us. We were introduced by one of my clients. We’d talked for six months and he shot me a message on a Friday afternoon at 4:30pm to ask if we could revisit our discussions. While we weren’t working together, I would regularly check in and encourage this person. They also spoke again with the client that connected us and realized that (1) they were in a better position for coaching now and (2) they were ready. 

 

Creating a sales superbloom is about planting and watering seeds. It’s about sending information that will help prospective clients, not “just checking in” emails. It’s about acting as a leader in the sales process, and it’s about always being in business development mode. When things are good, it’s easy to stop prospecting, networking, and growing the business. Ironically, when things are good is the best time to be doing these things because there is momentum to be capitalized on. And when things don’t feel good or sales are sluggish, it’s important to stay focused on the things that work, because if flowers can grow in a place called Death Valley sales can certainly be created with the right conditions.

 

Quote: 

“Great salespeople are relationship builders who provide value and help their customers win.” – Jeffrey Gitomer

Question: 

What conditions do you need to create for a sales superbloom?