Seeing Events through a Rainmaker’s Eyes, Part 1
In earlier posts (Dealing with Unreturned Phone Calls, A Lesson from Joe) I described how easy it is to misinterpret a lack of response from a prospective client. This is but one example of a broader tendency for rainmakers to see things differently from the rest of us. Here are two more examples:
Being stood up for a meeting with a prospective client:
How we might see it:
- A waste of time
- A lack of consideration or respect
- An indication of lack of interest
How rainmakers see it:
- One of those confusions that happens from time to time
- A small chit
Three losses in a row:
How we might see it:
- An indication of our lack of sales skills
- Proof that our prices are too high
How rainmakers see it:
- A string of bad luck which will soon change
- Lessons for winning the next one
It is not that the rainmakers are right and the rest of us are wrong. In the absence of additional information, all are logically defensible interpretations. But the non rainmakers’ interpretations discourage further effort. The rainmakers’ interpretations build resilience. They help the rainmaker get up and try again. And eventually he wins.
We can choose how we react to events. If you work at it, you can teach yourself to see them through a rainmaker’s eyes, too.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:05 AM
[...] an earlier post (Seeing Events Through a Rainmaker’s Eyes, Part 1) I described how rainmakers tend to see things differently from the rest of us. In that post I [...]