Herb Cannon

"I can't sell until you put my name on the door! The client needs to know they are dealing with a partner before they will commit to buying our services."

If you want your name on the door, sell enough work to merit it. -- Herb Cannon

I'm sure most owners have heard such claims during their career. An otherwise successful and valued member of your staff has been having trouble in taking it to the rainmaker level. Sure they are good technically and a good manager of people, but the truth of the matter is they have no interest or ability to sell. Most of their selling efforts have been half hearted at best and they fall back on the title excuse to justify their lack of interest in selling. The amazing thing is that they say it so often they actually start to believe it themselves.

Some of the variations of this sort of thinking are:

I need to be a ________________ (Choose one from below)
a.) Partner
b.) Principal
c.) Associate Partner
d.) Senior Associate
e.) Associate
f.) Sr. Project Manager
g.) Project Manager

Before I can______________________________________ (Choose one from below)
h.) Sell on behalf of the firm
i.) Negotiate a Contract
j.) Identify and get paid for change orders
k.) Manage staff
l.) Make a Collection Call
m.) Get respect from the client or staff or my spouse

The problem with this sort of thinking is putting the reward before the effort or results. If you want your name on the door, sell enough work to merit it. If you want the title of Senior Associate, take on a firm-wide responsibility and produce the results that benefit the entire company. If you want the respect of the staff, conduct yourself in a manner that earns their respect.

I have actually seen firms fall for the name on the door plea. Trust me when I tell you, I have never seen it work out they way it was intended. If you were not motivated to sell work in order to get your name on the door, why would you be motivated afterwards?

Remember Herb's golden rule. "Reward the results not the effort."

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