sales-atticThe other day I needed something from my father’s house, and I was told it was “in the attic.”  I figured it would be a 5 minute trip – you know, grab what I need and get out.

But when I climbed into the attic, I was stunned.  Amidst piles of boxes (some of them were actually empty) there were all sorts of little goodies that got in my way of trying to find what I was looking for.

At first, everything just sort of blended into the surroundings, like the countless hidden treasure games on your mobile device.  Then, upon closer inspection, I noticed everything from unopened Christmas gifts, evaporated-partially-used-paint-cans, 100 dead wasp carcasses and a myriad of random things I never imagined. I even saw boxes from our family’s move from Connecticut to Ohio when I was a child.  There were also these weird camel crickets with wonky eyes that would jump towards me instead of away – giving me that fight or flight instinct as my animal brain ascertained whether or not I was going to get bitten.

And it struck me as funny (after I got over the shock of it all) that this is how most businesses accumulate bad habits in their sales cultures.  They just sort of gather like dust bunnies, until one day you look around and think “How in the hell did this become normal?”

We talk a lot inside the 4M Sales Process as to the importance of climbing through your sales attic.  So what is the sales attic and why should you climb through it?

Your Sales Attic

Think of your sales attic as the culmination of how your sales team sells today.  It’s the net result of years under your belt, lessons learned and the quirky or unique things your team has learned to do over the years on their own.

The end result may be a stellar group of Naturals pushing $2M+ per year.  Or, it may be like the abysmal results of most secret shopper programs dealers perform where designers crank out designs and quotes to anyone with two legs, and then never follow up again.

What’s actually in your attic are all the prospects who didn’t buy from you, and who you never followed up with to find out why. They didn’t buy from you for this reason or that – so climbing through the attic is uncovering what actually happened.

If you don’t know what little creatures are in your attic, it’s time to do some inventory.  Not sure exactly how it’s done?  Find out how to climb Through the Sales Attic here.  We’ll have more on the sales attic next week, so stay tuned.