“Time does not experience make."

 

— Terry Minion

 

“Human beings, who are almost unique
in having the ability to learn
from the experience of others
are also remarkable
for their apparent disinclination
to do so."

 

— Douglas Adams

 

 

 

In the early days of my auto business career, I heard this phrase and never let it get very far from me: he had twenty years of experience; one year’s experience repeated 19 times. If you’ve watched people in their positions over time, I’m sure that phrase has meaning to you. I used to see a lot of it, and still do.

 

Why that phrase stuck with me is that I find love in learning, and if I’m not growing, and becoming more every day, week, month, year, then I would be very disappointed in myself and my experience. So, it helps drive me just a bit by reminding me that I need to learn new things every day and continually grow.

 

Now, this growth could be anywhere in my life, and I study business, sales, sales management, psychology, metaphysics (fancy word for life skills), and life by observation and participation. What’s cool about that is that all of those subjects are present in what I do for work. I love growing, learning, and expanding.

 

To me, the key difference between one experience level and another is study, and a real willingness to learn. This is what I see lacking when I see a lot of employees in action at various companies–especially in sales. It’s always fascinated me how to change this, and I’ve had some success with it, from much trial and error.

 

Here’s what over 40 years of sales management experience has taught me: 1. Find good people. 2. Provide clear expectations. 3. Train well. 4. Follow through without threats. 5. Create a positive culture. 6. Repeat.

 

Number one is ultimately the most important, so these are in numerical sequence of importance in my mind. Number two gets missed a lot and is key to the early experience. They have to know what to do, what is acceptable and not, with clarity. Number three is so important and especially the second word: well. Number four is where I see a good deal of problems where threats are made and not followed through on. Forget the threats, just do it. This goes back to number two. Number five is critical to longevity and productivity. If the only reason they are there is the paycheck, that is not reason enough to have a great staff. Then, number six is necessary because number three will soon tell you who you’ve hired. Always on the hunt is a good philosophy.

 

This could change the phrase to this: she had twenty years’ experience, and she studied it so well, she got it in ten years!

 

 

 

I’ve Probably Learned More From Trying And Not Succeeding Than Trying And Succeeding.

 

 

Spread Some Joy Today–be open to experience and learning. There is joy in there.