Have you seen the video built around David Foster Wallace’s 2005 This is Water commencement address? It has been making the rounds and is currently at 4.5M views (nearly .3% of Gangnam Style fame).
I was talking with a group of BDRs the other day and, for some reason, I kept thinking back to the video.
The BDRs were sharing frustrations with the day-to-day challenges of their role. The list won’t surprise you:
- Frequent rejection
- Gatekeepers
- Bogus contact info
- Calling in on customers because someone didn’t update Salesforce.com
- Finally getting a live phone connect only to be told “Nope. Not interested.”
- Great prospects who go dark
- Etc.
But the reality is – those challenges aren’t getting in the way of selling. They are selling.
Take a look at the video below.
Although DFW talks about the petty frustrations of daily life (traffic jams, crowded stores & long checkout lines), it makes me think about the routine frustrations of selling (like the short list above).
Now I know that for sales people, a 5+ minute video seems the equivalent of reading every entry on Wikipedia. But give it a try. If you lead a group, share with your team. If you’re a rep, share with a few colleagues, post to Chatter, etc.
Selling is rewarding work – but it can be a grind. No one is served by ignoring this fact.
This is selling. This is a people business.
This is the noble, frustrating, amazing, often brutal profession we chose.
This is the game. This is water.
