Meet Rogier

It is 08:30 am on Tuesday morning. Rogier goes to work in his car. He has been a salesman for 15 years, has a quick conversation and thinks he is very good. It all comes easy to him. Although he has been missing orders more and more in recent years, he is not too concerned about it; He will achieve his target this year, because he always does that. However, it is less well-endowed than in the past. His manager has already spoken to him about the fact that he observes that Rogier is much less sharp than a few years ago. Rogier has sometimes wondered why he sometimes misses orders, but without finding a real answer, it remained that way.

Is talent also success?

Every person was given his or her own talents at birth. One person has a naturally beautiful voice, another has a pair of super fast legs and another has great muscle mass. That's very nice, but it is no guarantee that you will become a great singer, or a great marathon runner, sprinter or top athlete. When I drive along the A32 past Heerenveen and look west, I pass the Thialf Ice Stadium. The ice temple for the Frisians and the Dutch. Where Sven Kramer has achieved many successes and is still one of the world's top skaters. A wonderful example of someone who really got the most out of his talent!

Rogier to Sven

Why are things getting worse for Rogier and why is Sven Kramer still at the top after 15 years? A very important question with a very interesting answer if you ask the so-called why question can answer, then you can also answer the how-question to answer. This is what Simon Sinek writes in his book: “Start with WHY! How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action”.

In a newspaper article, Ton van Veen, the CFO of the Jumbo empire from Veghel, states:  "Not winning is not a bad thing, but you have to know why; and then make sure it doesn't happen again."

Rogier told me in a personal conversation about his work and that it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to obtain orders, while it used to be a piece of cake. He had no idea how it happened. His company, where Rogier had worked for 15 years, was a successful organization and he did almost everything on autopilot, so he never got tired of it.

He had learned to sell from his manager and partly from himself, although he did not know exactly how that happened. In any case, he had never read a sales book, had done a written “sales training” 19 years ago, but couldn't really remember much about it.

“Do you know Sven Kramer?” , I asked Rogier. He looked at me in surprise and said: 'Yes of course, who doesn't know him, great skater, many times Dutch, Olympic and world champion, the best skater ever. Has been at the top for over 15 years.” Rogier had apparently invested more study time in Sven Kramer's career than in his own. I presented him with the following statement: “Sven has to train extremely hard to stay at the top. Suppose he were to train 50% less now, would he still be at the top?” Rogier was very resolute in his answer: “Absolutely not, maybe he can still ride the 10 km at the National Championships every now and then, but a podium is no longer possible for him and he can completely forget about the World Skating Championships, because there are there are many skaters who will be faster than him."

I looked straight at Rogier and asked him the question: “Rogier, coming back to yourself, how much and how often do you train and keep yourself in top condition as a sales professional? In other words: How can you expect to continue to perform if you don't invest in yourself?”

There was a moment of silence on the other side of the conversation table before he admitted that he had done nothing in recent years to stay in top form. “I myself am the cause of the declining sales. I have done nothing to continue acting at my old level. I wasn't taught it and wasn't encouraged by my manager, because he doesn't know it either. I will have to work really hard to catch up, otherwise things will really go wrong.”

Together with Rogier I drew up an action plan and he started training really hard and after six months he texted me: “Thanks for your good advice. My goals have been more than achieved in the past month. It gets better every month. What a positive change and I have much more job satisfaction. Thanks!” See, that's what you do it for as a trainer and of course it also helps me achieve my goals.

A comparison between Rogier and Sven is easiest to interpret from Sven Kramer's perspective. He is a natural talent of exceptional class. Inherited from his father Yep, among others. But talent alone won't get you there. When Sven joined the world skating top at the age of 18, he had already trained thousands of hours from an early age. On the bike, running, with weights and of course skating. A strict life rhythm of going to bed on time, the right diet, training, resting on time, taking care of your body, etc., etc. And that rhythm day in, day out. But of course there are more skaters who have done that in the Sven Kramer way. But how do you become an even better skater than all those other skaters? By training even more? No, that stops at a certain point, otherwise you will become overtrained. So you have to improve your technique and your physical posture. Every detail improvement means (time) savings. So it's all about the details!

Why does Sven beat Rogier?

In other words: what does Sven do differently than Rogier and how does Sven stay at the top? The answer is as simple as it is logical; by training, on the ice, in the fitness room, in the wind tunnel and on the bike. So practical training at the place where it has to happen in practice; on the ice rink. And then very often and very loudly. But also by constantly thinking about how you can do things differently and better than the competition. Sven will certainly have followed studies and read books, but no one has ever won a match with only a written or digital course in skating, billiards or golf. And this applies to both salespeople and managers. You will have to constantly maintain, refine and improve your skills. Pick up new developments and use them well. Small details often determine the difference between success or not at the end.

How did we help Rogier to become a 'sales champion' again?

The interactive training courses we provide are the perfect application to achieve this 'championship'. We train in small groups of a maximum of eight people with practical examples that you actually encounter on a daily basis and immediately increase your skills. Role playing, ping pong and workshops. It is spicy and you can use it directly in your own practice the next day. But be careful: training is fine and you will also have to continue to maintain and further develop your new skills in order to remain optimally alert.

Train, train and train again, because 'rest is rust!'
The Winner takes it All