The Cowboy Story

 Hello Great People: 

This post opens us to a new dimension in our discussion as I have promised. I am not going to bore you with my intro but get you into reading this interesting story of a Cowboy from Oklahoma. 

This story will give you some thoughts and I would allow you to share your thoughts with some guide questions I will leave below. I will conclude the story with the author's thoughts in the next post after all of us have shared our thoughts.

Enjoy!

When I started my telecommunications company, I knew I was going to need salespeople to help me expand the business. I put the word out that I was looking for qualified salespeople and began the interviewing process. The salesperson I had in mind was experienced in the telemarketing communications industry, knew the local market, had experience with the various types of systems available had a professional demeanor and was a self-starter. I had very little time to train a person, so it was important that the salesperson I hired could "hit the ground running." During the tiresome process of interviewing prospective salespeople, into my office walked a cowboy. I knew he was a cowboy by the way he was dressed. He had on corduroy pants and a corduroy jacket that didn't match the pants; a short-sleeved snap-button shirt; a tie that came about halfway down his chest with a knot bigger than my fist; cowboy boots; and a baseball cap. You can imagine what I was thinking: "Not what I had in mind for my new company." He sat down in front of my desk, took off his cap, and said, "Mister, I'd just shore appreciate a chance to be a success in the telephone biness." And that's just how he said it, too: biness. I was trying to figure out a way to tell this fellow, without being too blunt, that he just wasn't what I had in mind at all. I asked him about his background. He said he had a degree in agriculture from Oklahoma State University and that he had been a ranch hand in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, for the past few years during the summers. He announced that was all over now, he was ready to be a success in "biness," and he would just "shore appreciate a chance." We continued to talk. He was so focused on success and how he would "shore appreciate a chance" that I decided to give him a chance. I told him that I would spend two days with him. In those two days, I would teach him everything I thought he needed to know to sell one type of very small telephone system. At the end of those two days, he would be on his own. He asked me how much money I thought he could make. I told him, "Looking like you look and knowing what you know, the best you can do is about $1,000 per month." I went on to explain that the average commission on the small telephone systems he would be selling was approximately $250 per system. I told him if he would see 100 prospects per month, that he would sell four of those prospects a telephone system. Selling four telephone systems would give him $1,000. I hired him on straight commission with no base salary. He said that sounded great to him because the most he had ever made was $400 per month as a ranch hand and he was ready to make some money. The next morning, I sat him down to cram as much of the telephone "biness" I could into a twenty-two-year-old cowboy with no business experience, no telephone experience, and no sales experience. He looked like anything but a professional salesperson in the telecommunications business. In fact, he had none of the qualities I was looking for in an employee, except one: He had an incredible focus on being a success. At the end of two days of training, Cowboy (that's what I called him then, and still do) went to his cubicle. He took out a sheet of paper and wrote down four things: 1. I will be a success in business. 2. I will see 100 people per month. 3. I will sell four telephone systems per month. 4. I will make $1,000 per month. He placed this sheet of paper on the cubicle wall in front of him and started to work. At the end of the first month, he hadn't sold four telephone systems. However, at the end of his first ten days, he had sold seven telephone systems. At the end of his first year, Cowboy hadn't earned $12,000 in commissions. Instead, he had earned over $60,000 in commissions. He was indeed amazing. One day, he walked into my office with a contract and payment on a telephone system. I asked him how he had sold this one. He said, "I just told her, 'Ma'am, if it don't do nothing but ring and you answer it, it's a heck of a lot prettier than that one you got.' She bought it." The woman wrote him a check in full for the telephone system, but Cowboy wasn't really sure I would take a check, so he drove her to the bank and had her get cash to pay for the system. He carried thousand-dollar bills into my office and said, "Larry, did I do good?" I assured him that he did good! After three years, he owned half of my company. At the end of another year, he owned three other companies. At that time we separated as business partners. He was driving a $32,000 black pickup truck. He was wearing $600 cowboy-cut suits, $500 cowboy boots, and a three-carat horseshoe-shaped diamond ring. He had become a success in "biness." What made Cowboy a success? Was it because he was a hard worker? That helped. Was it because he was smarter than everyone else? No. He knew nothing about the telephone business when he started. So what was it? I believe it was because he knew the Ya Gotta's for Success:--  ---Spencer  Johnson Let us read your views:  Enter your comments.