100 Ways to Motivate Others : How Great Leaders Can Produce Insane Results Without Driving People Crazy

Man, this stuff really works. This is a
piece of cake.
And that was the last sale I had for two weeks. And so
my sales manager decided to start working with me to see
what wasn’t working. He gave me a diagnosis, “Scott, you’re
not closing. You’re not even asking for the sale.”
“What do you mean I’m not closing? Of course I’m
closing.”
“No, you’re not. You didn’t close once.”
“I didn’t?”
“No. Look, I know we taught you to close at least three
times, but for you there’s no limit. Just start off showing
them a little bit about the books, then you close. And if
they say, ‘No, I’m not interested,’ you say, ‘I know just
what you mean,’ and you show them a little bit more, and
you close again.”
So I said, “That’s crazy. They’re going to throw me
out on my butt!”
Lead by Selling

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“Just try it.”
Well, I figured the other way wasn’t working, so what
the heck?
So the next house we called on, I presented the books
a little bit and asked the lady for the order. She said, “Well,
I’m really not interested.”
“That’s fine, I know exactly what you mean,” I said.
Then I showed her a little bit more and asked her again.
And she said, “Well, I don’t know, I don’t have the money.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” I said.
And I showed her a little bit more and closed her again.
I closed her at least five times and I thought, 
Man, how
long is this going to take? I guess she hasn’t kicked me out,
so I’ll keep going.
And finally, I think on the sixth close, she said, “Okay!”
I was shocked.
Later on, something very surprising happened.
It turned out that this nice lady worked in a bank right
there in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. One day, when I went
to the bank to bring all my checks from my sales to de-
posit, I saw her there. She was working as a teller. I put
my checks in to deposit, and she seemed very embarrassed
to see me. So I thought, 
Oh my gosh, maybe I just
ramrodded her into buying and now she feels bad. But oh
well, we always tell them they can cancel the order.
So I shoved my checks toward her and said, “I want to
deposit these checks.”
And she said, “You know, Scott, I hope you didn’t
mind that I took so long to decide, but I just wanted to
make sure that I really wanted those books. Now I’m so
glad I bought them.”

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What a lesson. So from then on, I’ve never been afraid
to ask. And then ask again! In terms of leadership, this
simply means asking for what you want, being very direct
with your requests, and having your communication cen-
tered on requests and promises.
You can go up the ladder to the people who lead you
and make bold requests on behalf of you and your team.
You can do the same with major customers. Also, with
your own direct reports, figure out what you want your
people to buy in to, and then sell them on the idea. But
don’t forget to close them. Don’t forget to make a strong,
specific request (the close), and then receive a strong, spe-
cific promise in return.
84. Hold On to Principle
In matters of style, swim with the current;
in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
—Thomas Jefferson
“Discipline yourself, and others won’t need to,” Coach
John Wooden would tell his players. “Never lie. Never
cheat. Never steal,” and “Earn the right to be proud and
confident.”
We’re starting to learn why John Wooden was the most
successful college basketball coach of all time. No one has
ever even come close. No one has ever motivated his ath-
letes so superbly as Wooden.
Rick Reilly, the talented sportswriter, recalls (“A Para-
digm Rising above the Madness,”