Conquering the Seven Summits of Sales

Susan Ershler, John Waechter

• Publisher: Harper Business
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780062282651
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Sales
• Index: Business

Two experts who have summited the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents—and scaled the highest peaks in corporate sales—examine what it takes to achieve sales success, drawing on the techniques and determination it takes to climb the world's highest peaks.

When Susan Ershler and John Waechter each made the grueling journey to the top of Mount Everest, they were motivated by the desire to join the elite group of climbers that had conquered the Seven Summits, the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. It was this same determination that made them star performers in corporate sales, one of the toughest jobs in global business. They both cherish the deep satisfaction that only comes from attaining a seemingly impossible goal through focus, determination, and persistence.

In this unique and inspiring guide, Susan and John draw on their experiences to inspire sales professionals to overcome their perceived limitations and reach new heights of success, illustrating how any sales professional can achieve peak performance. They show how to clearly define goals, "choose the right Sherpa" (build the right team), commit to a vision, "travel light" (manage your time), and "measure the mountain" (track your progress).

Interweaving concrete, tested methods for high achievement in sales, with stories of harrowing climbs and perseverance, Conquering the Seven Summits of Sales proves that anyone can experience the tremendous sense of closure and satisfaction that comes with overcoming perceived limitations and achieve something real and meaningful.

PART I

PROJECT

Mount Everest—South Col to the Summit. (Greg Vernovage)

1

COMMIT TO THE SUMMIT

PROJECT: Every success begins with an ambitious and clearly articulated vision.

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.

—Andrew Carnegie, founder of Carnegie Steel Company

Mount Everest is located in the Himalayan Range on the border between Nepal and Tibet in Asia. At 29,035 feet, Everest is the tallest mountain on Earth and the most dangerous of the Seven Summits to climb. More than 250 climbers have lost their lives there.

It was May 24, 2001. After sixty-three days of climbing Mount Everest, Sue and John had just one day left to reach the summit. It was late in the climbing season, the weather was looking ominous, and their goal of reaching the top of the world and completing their Seven Summits quest would come down to one last push.

Human bodies aren’t designed to operate efficiently at extreme altitudes. Above 24,600 feet, sleeping becomes difficult, digesting food is almost impossible, and climbers face an increased risk of high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) and high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE). These conditions, caused by low oxygen, can often prove fatal. Contending with headaches, nausea, and persistent fatigue, climbers quickly exhaust their energy stores and begin to rapidly lose weight.

Sue and John were now at 26,000 feet, an altitude known as the Death Zone. At this elevation, virtually every human—unless they receive supplementary oxygen—will begin to experience a rapid deterioration of bodily functions that leads inexorably to loss of consciousness and, eventually, death. On the evening before their final 3,000-foot push to the summit, John and Sue huddled anxiously in their tents against the freezing temperatures and howling wind. The climb awaiting them would be the most difficult of their lives. Would they be able to summon the drive and energy they would need to succeed?

The storm that had arrived the day before was building in strength when they dragged themselves from their tents at 11:00 P.M. to survey the conditions and make final preparations. After forcing themselves to take a few sips of water, they began to climb. It was almost midnight and pitch-black. The jet stream had moved in like a freight train, bringing heavy winds that drove needles of snow into their faces. They could barely see each other as they climbed into the darkness.

Sue struggled as she ascended a series of steps that had clearly been carved into the icy mountain for climbers with legs much longer than her own. It was like climbing a staircase made of chairs. Slowly, painfully, she trudged on, following the pale circle of light cast by her headlamp on the snow.

Her muscles were already sore from months of climbing and years of training. Her pack felt heavier and her headlamp cord froze where it snaked against her neck. The vent in her oxygen mask, which allowed her exhaled breath to escape so she wouldn’t suffocate, kept freezing over, too. Every few steps, she had to stop to break the ice. And no matter how she adjusted the ascender in her safety harness, it kept banging painfully against her knee. Her fingers were stinging and she couldn’t feel her toes. She began flexing them, hoping to prevent frostbite from setting in. To keep herself going, she chanted the three mantras she’d written in her journal:

You have the ability; now believe, believe, believe.

Olympic athletes perform through the pain. So can you.

Pain is temporary, push through the pain.

Somewhere up ahead, John too was facing the harsh realities of climbing in the Death Zone. The thin air had affected his ability to think clearly, a condition known as hypoxia that results from diminished oxygen levels to the brain. This light-headedness had caused John to vacillate when determining which gloves to wear from High Camp to the summit. Warm down mittens would provide maximum protection against the harsh elements, but they would restrict the dexterity needed to handle the fixed ropes and devices required to climb. Ultimately he had chosen thin gloves that provided little protection against the frigid wind and subzero temperatures. Now, he was losing feeling in his fingers despite his repeated attempts to keep the circulation flowing. Ignoring the numbness and stinging pain, John continued climbing. As he approached 27,600 feet—only approximately 1,400 feet from the summit—the wind and snow began to batter his face harder than ever and his progress slowed. He became increasingly certain that the mountain was not going to be climbable that day. Disappointment began to dampen his spirits.

After hours of climbing, Sue and John came together for a break with the one other team that was on the upper mountain that night—an American team striving to get the first blind climber to the top of the world. This team was also diminished, so the two teams discussed their plans and agreed to watch out for one another as they climbed the next leg.

Although climbers work as a team, each is alone when it comes to marshaling the strength and endurance needed to overcome the challenges of a serious climb. During the past sixty-three days of their climb, Sue and John had many long hours to think about their motivation and push down the voices inside their heads saying things like “What in the world are you doing up here? You’re not a professional mountain climber. Why put yourself through this kind of pain?”

Scaling a Quota

Two months earlier, before attacking the perils of Everest, Sue and John had faced equally daunting challenges in their business careers. Sue was at US West (now CenturyLink), a Fortune 500 telecommunications service provider, where she led the sales organization responsible for the firm’s largest Internet service provider (ISP) accounts. How, she wondered, would they overcome fierce competition, rapid market changes, and limited resources to achieve the dramatic increase in their revenue objectives—from $250 million to $300 million—that had just been mandated by senior management?

John was mulling over the future of Waechter Lufkin, LLC, the boutique investment banking firm he had cofounded four years earlier with his friend and fellow climber Andy Lufkin. The company, which specialized in providing guidance and venture capital to start-up technology companies, had enjoyed enormous success throughout the technology boom of the late 1990s. Then, just prior to the Everest expedition, the bubble burst, plunging the country into recession. John would now have to define a new vision and business strategy to maintain the growth the company had enjoyed until then. However, with Everest looming, this was a challenge that would have to wait until he returned from the mountain.

As sales professionals, we’re accustomed to high pressure and seemingly unreasonable expectations. We’re always being challenged to do more with less. We’re expected to find new clients, service existing ones, and stay current with industry trends while meeting strict deadlines. Somehow, through all this, we must also find time to have a personal life. And if you’re in a management role, as we were, you have the added responsibility of successfully building and leading a team.

Have you ever felt stymied while chasing a dream? Felt like you’ve only just started, yet the obstacles you’re encountering already seem overwhelming? “This is too difficult,” you tell yourself. “How will I ever make it happen?”

We’ve been there too. But through experience, we’ve learned that anyone can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and achieve their personal vision of success.

Project. Prepare. Persevere

The act of climbing a mountain has long captured the human imagination as a metaphor for meeting life’s challenges. On the mountain, we must overcome harsh weather and physical barriers to reach the summit. In business, sales professionals must overcome constant rejection and scarce resources to fulfill their quotas and earn financial rewards.

We’re proud to count ourselves among the elite climbers who have ascended the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. In sales too there are Seven Summits that every top performer must conquer, one for each chapter of this book.

Your journey through our Seven Summits of Sales will proceed through three distinct phases that we refer to as Project. Prepare. Persevere. This is a methodology for achieving both short- and long-term goals that will help you develop the essential skills and attitudes common to Everest summiteers and top sales performers alike. This book is divided into three parts, one for each phase.

In our first two chapters, we’ll discuss projecting your vision, setting goals, and creating action plans. In chapters 3 to 6, we’ll examine the nuts and bolts of preparing to be successful by learning about your company, products, and services, and by acquiring the in-depth market knowledge and industry expertise you’ll need to perform at the elite level. We’ll also consider how to leverage this knowledge so you can navigate effectively through the sale process.

We’ll conclude the book in chapter 7, where we’ll explore the keystone trait that every top performer possesses: perseverance. We’ll show you that perseverance is something that can be learned and perfected, like any other skill. And we’ll provide practical methods you can use to ignite your passion and overcome any obstacle in your path to success.

For more than eight years, we fully committed ourselves to achieving our vision of climbing the Seven Summits. We trained year-round and spent all of our annual vacations pursuing this goal with single-minded determination. Along the way, our c...