Cherish Early Brushes With Success
A definition, from photographer Erik Kessels;
“early brush with success”
…aka…
failure
I was pleased to discover this slant from snatches of his Cape Town Design Indaba presentation.
Further digging uncovered a delightful book of photos. Failed It shows masterpieces masquerading as apparent snapshot disasters.
As the above referenced review sums up;
failure is vital to the health of the creative mind; mistake-making is an intrinsic part of being different from the norm, of being new and exciting
Getting a tad tired with talk of “learning experiences”, then here’s your fresher euphemism.
Yet in Sales latitude for any lack of success is slim to non-existent.
When starting out myself, I was encouraged to experiment. Making mistakes acknowledged as part of the crucial learning process. With a chilling caveat from elder sellers. “But do not mess up on my deal”.
Well. Recalling the “it’s only a mistake if you make the same one twice” outlook, I did wonder on the fear of what was called where I grew up, when you’d “dropped a brick”;
how many potential clients are happy for you to openly slip something new into their solution?
how many bosses wantonly try something new on part of your forecast?
how many colleagues are willing to say something new rather than their old-hat chat on a pitch?
There’s a time and place for anything new. Not all Sales are such. In fact, very few are.
And yet. Primarily, to find anything that works – especially with your vaunted process – you will never find that which works first time out, every time.
Then, also imagine a deal where the mere act of trying the new is a plus.
What if you jointly ‘feel the brush’? Make them part of the discovery? Share the joy (and workings) of the iterations to super-solution?
An incredibly solid relationship may well form and indisputable qualification alert to boot.
footnote; the above image up top is how he shows text slides – a simple method all sellers can replicate for impact using any ‘highlight’ colours other than his dutch orange