We’ve all witnessed it and marveled at it when it happens. It’s the stuff of riveting nightly news stories. It mostly appears in a crisis situation when someone is in immediate life-threatening danger and somebody jumps in to perform a herculean rescue while other more mortal people stand gazing in a state of awe.
But why and how does that one person rise to the level of that extraordinary challenge and perform on a heroic level?
In Revenue Storm parlance, we say that guy has “Rescue Power”. That is the one ingredient that evades sales training or sales coaching. A great salesperson or account manager possessing Rescue Power always has three distinguishing features that produce his/her greatness as client-facing professional.
Rescue Mindedness
There is an unusual selflessness about people who are willing to sacrifice for the benefit of others. They feel that part of their purpose in life is to reach out and help others through a problem or tough period. It gives them a sense of relevance for which they spiritually hunger.
When embodied in a sales professional, they routinely go the extra mile, make the extra call, ask an additional question, and explore other options to make sure the client is understood. These “rescue mindedness” professionals expend the extra efforts to make sure the underlying problem(s) of the client is unearthed, and their core problems are revealed and correctly diagnosed so that a solution is in place to eliminate their problem.
Rescue Eyes
It is an understatement to say that these people see things that other people don’t. Their penetrating vision constantly and tirelessly looks for areas of improvement that other, hurried salespeople overlook and miss.
They see things in meetings, in conversations, in actions, and in inactions that tell a story to which they are able to respond with innovative ideas of how a rescue solution could make a difference.
They are in the customer’s presence for one purpose, to make that client happy and their business a success and they see ways to do just that.
Rescue Heart
Perhaps it’s because of how they are wired, but they feel things that other salespeople don’t. They emotionally connect quicker and deeper with their clients than do their colleagues. They cannot rest until the customer’s problem has been addressed. Their clients see it in them. They intuitively know that this person is there to help and will not rest until the job is done. They emotionally bond with their clients.
Because of this heartfelt desire, they build trust-based relationships easily. They have learned how to move the pain of the customer to their own heart. Therefore, they have a transparent caring aspect about them that clients find refreshing and endearing.
The Concept of Rescue Power
When you add Rescue Mindedness to Rescue Eyes to a Rescue Heart, you get Rescue Power. And that is what differentiates a good sales professional from a great sales professional.
Either a person has it or they don’t. It certainly necessitates strong personality attributes like empathy, high-risk tolerance, intrinsically motivated, decisive and self-confidence.
Even if all of these existed in one person, there is still something else that glues all of these traits together at one period in one situation for one extraordinary moment in time. It is a spiritual/moral feature that eludes testing and training. Once you see it, you will know what to look for in a sales professional.
