Mount Damavand in winter, Iran.
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Mountaintop experiences are the theme of this month’s “What I Learned From …” project from Robert Hruzek. He says, “Ever been at the top of a mountain (or at least a very tall building), with what seems like the whole world at your feet? It’s an awesome feeling, ain’t it?”

The mountaintop experience I’d like to share takes me back to my early days in b2b sales – before the internet, when sales people hustled up business the old fashioned way, by driving around industrial parks and visiting customers face to face. It was physically and mentally hard work. For every door that opened, ten got slammed in your face.

We were coming down to the wire on a sales contest that I really, really wanted to win. First prize was a TV and I didn’t have one. I was at the office one afternoon writing up an order (on paper) – a big order. It was for a very specialized type of paper for a specific industry, for an account our company had had in the south suburbs of Chicago for many years. I was thinking, boy, if I could come up with a couple more orders like this, the TV would be mine. Too bad there weren’t any other companies in Chicago that did the same thing.

The Mountaintop Moment

Did you ever see 2001: A Space Odyssey? Remember the scene when the Early Man picks up the thigh bone, mulls it over, and ZAP!, understands that he is holding a weapon? He throws the bone jubilantly into the air. The world is his!

[Note to reader: Author suggests playing this video as you read the following few paragraphs.]

Strange thoughts crept into my head as I stared at the order. Suddenly it occurred to me that there were other companies that did this sort of work … it was just that they were in other parts of the country. And … instead of calling on them face to face, I could use the telephone and solicit their business.

In a flash the dust of sales convention disappeared and I could see everything clearly. Using the phone, I could work fast and lock down these deals in time to win the TV. So I started tracking down other companies and lo and behold … it worked. I won the TV, orders continued to come in, and I continued to find new prospects within the niche all over the country.

From that point it was all downhill from the mountaintop, and I mean that in a good way. I figured, selling on the phone makes sense. If it works in one niche, it’ll work in another. Soon I was spending most of my time on the phone, going into the field mainly for highly qualified, closing calls. The other sales reps thought it was weird, but the business kept rolling in. Before long they let me hire a few sales reps to do the same thing. Six years later we had 30 reps doing it and a $10 million sales division.

Nothing succeeds like success – if you’re in sales, never forget it.

PS – I kept that little Zenith TV in the family room for about 15 years, enduring the mockery of my friends and the dismay of my family. My official explanation was that a new TV would be a waste of money, but just between you and me, I think the real reason was that the old Zenith reminded me of my mountaintop experience.

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