Struggling to maintain determination in sales prospecting? Discover what bamboo can teach us about perseverance in overcoming sales challenges.
Bamboo is a great example of how we can all strive to stay persistent, even in the face of challenges. While bamboo can take a few years to show signs of growth, it never gives up on its potential. People, however, are not so consistent. When prospecting, people often become discouraged and give up when their calls go unanswered. This is a clear example of how different people are from bamboo, and why it is so important to stay committed to your goals, even when you don't see immediate results. By learning from bamboo, and not giving up when challenges arise, you will be much more likely to find success.
Learn more about Lushin's sales training services
Related Resources
Articles
- The Power of Routine Wins in Achieving Success
- How You Think About Money Could be Hurting Your Sales Outcomes
- Is What You Are Doing Not Working?
Videos
- Sales Prospecting Technique: Nurturing Your Prospects to Increase Sales
- How Your Belief System Can Make or Break Your Sales Goals
Case Study
White Paper
Video Transcript
There's a species of bamboo called giant timber. If you plant it in the appropriate climate and water it regularly in the first year, nothing happens. If you continue to water it into its second year, nothing happens. And again, in the third year, nothing happens.
Then it grows ninety feet in six weeks—unless you stopped watering sometime between the 4th and 40th months after you planted it. But if that happens, it's your fault, not the bamboo's fault.
Bamboo doesn't have the ability to give up.
Plants are complete slaves to their genetic programs. Plant me, give me sunshine, water me, and I'll grow. But people? We're different. We love our comfort zones.
We struggle with challenges. We love to quit. Our self-awareness and superintelligence can sometimes be a curse, causing us to contemplate quitting.
But bamboo, bamboo's too stupid to quit. It's literally impossible.
Take prospecting.
Prospecting is arduous. Your people make one call, and then nothing happens. They make a second and more nothing. They make the third, fourth, and fifth calls, and still nothing.
And unlike giant timber bamboo, your people can give up (and they probably might). If they're like most, they give up before the ninety feet in six weeks moment. Worst of all, when your people quit, they'll call it something else. They never admit they're quitting.
They say things like that job “wasn't a fit” or “cold calls don't work anyway.”
And almost as bad as what quitting costs them and you is that they don't even learn the lesson afterward. After all, they didn't quit; it's just that their plans changed.
My number one piece of advice is to don't quit. Just don't.
It's funny what you could achieve if you're too stupid or too stubborn to quit.
