Seriously...

Shortly after I started my career selling Voluntary Benefits (VB) my manager told me, “Tim, the day I stop having fun is the day I stop doing this.” Having spent the previous 15 years in the brutally hard foodservice industry, I thought that any job that didn’t include me having to stand on my feet for 14 straight hours sounded appealing. I’ll never forget the first time I took my kids to the zoo on a Saturday and didn’t have to worry about someone calling me to let me know about a problem back at the restaurant. The sun was shining and all I could hear echoing in my head that day was Dr. Martin Luther King’s voice from his famous “I have a dream!” speech. “Free at last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

Has every day of my 16+ year VB sales career been full of wonder, joy, and elation? Of course not! I have had hard days. Days that tested my intestinal fortitude. In fact, very few things happen in the real world because a puppy kissed a unicorn. (Tweet That) To earn success means just that. You have to earn it. (Read, “work hard.”) But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun along the way.

Last week I interviewed the VB sales leadership legend, Joe Buzzello on the Success Is Voluntary podcast. (Listen Here) He led a team in the Los Angeles area that opened 19 regional sales offices and went from $0 in premium to over $120,000,000 of in-force, voluntary benefits premium on the books. They hit their assigned sales plan 11 of 12 years including 9 years in a row. During that time it seemed like they won almost every contest and award on the planet. When I asked Joe what he thought the secret was, he quickly mentioned having fun. Then he said something that blew my mind, “Even when we were losing a little bit, I still impressed upon them, ‘Let’s have even more fun!’ You will have a lot more success if you don’t feel pressure in a sales organization. If you’re laughing, if you’re having fun, (and a lot of it is laughing at some of the stuff you would normally cry about) and not taking yourself so darned seriously. If you can get people laughing, they become more open. They become open to having a relationship with you, where you can really mentor them. They become open to criticism because they know you’re a real person.”

Anybody can have fun when their winning. If you want to have sustained success in this industry, you have to learn how to have fun even when you are losing. Let me be perfectly clear on this point. I HATE losing!!! But that doesn’t mean it has to ruin my entire day. As a leader, I don’t have the luxury of sitting around feeling sorry for myself. Nothing is worse than a leader who mopes around. Too many people are watching how I react. If I allow the pressure to show, or God forbid roll downhill, the entire organization can start to stress and press. This makes them less effective in their duties, which creates more pressure to perform, which causes…… This is NO BUENO!!!

So how do I make sure to have fun? Better yet, how do I make sure my team is having fun? Here are:

Tim’s 9 Tricks to Making Sure the Team is Having Fun

• It’s Not Over Until I Win – Reframe your timeline. Maybe you didn’t win….yet. The great coach, Vince Lombardi said, “We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.” The good news for us is this: As long as we don’t quit, the game isn’t over. We can still come back and win this sucker!!! If you want to get fired up, watch this Michael Jordan video!

• Celebrate Small Successes – I try to make sure that we keep track of every account that is opened and that the Agent gets recognized for their accomplishments. We spend part of every meeting recognizing the accomplishments of everyone present, no matter how big or small.
• Lighten Up – Joe also mentioned that he has never liked serious people. Whenever I start to feel stress, I have to take a breath and remind myself that I’m not an Air Traffic Controller. No one is going to die because I made the wrong decision.
• Brighten Up – Smile, smile, smile. It may sound corny, but it is hard to have a bad day or stay mad and upset when you are smiling.
• Stay Thankful – When I was working with my buddy Mike Mueller and we were having a miserable day, he would always say, “It beats hanging siding.” I didn’t understand what he meant until one day he explained. Mike used to be a contractor. The worst job on a residential job site in the Pacific Northwest is hanging siding on a new house. I don’t know if you know this, but it sometimes rains in Washington and Oregon. When the person is hanging siding on a new house, the rain gutters have not yet been installed. So the rain that is running off of the roof comes straight down from the eve and hits the person installing the siding on the back of their head and neck. Considering that the rainwater is usually somewhere between 40-50 degrees, it doesn’t take long for that person to get soaked to the bone and shivering. All of a sudden, sitting in a nice warm break-room talking to people sounds pretty fun.
• Contests – I run some kind of contest almost weekly. Sure they should be doing the very activity I am rewarding them for anyway. But winning a $25 iTunes gift card can really raise their spirits.
• Host Fun Events – I have taken my team bowling, to the zoo, go-kart racing, shooting sporting clays, sailing, golfing, to the spa, to dinner theater, and many, many more. People tend to remember the events much more than cash. They bond, let down their hair, and have fun!
• Think Abundance – All the VB carriers combined don’t have 10% market penetration. If you lose this account to a competitor or even someone inside your organization, MOVE ON!!! I have seen agents spend hours and days fighting over an eight-life case. This is like two dogs fighting over the scraps that have fallen on the floor when they could just jump on the table and eat the feast that is laid out before them.
• Remember your “Big Why” – Last week in my article titled Marrying Your Emotions to Your Logic we talked about how important it is for us to remember why we are doing this in the first place. (Read this to jog your memory.)

Conclusion: If you follow the nine steps above and still aren’t having fun, perhaps this business isn’t for you. There is no shame in that. We need all types to make this world go around!!! My wife is an accountant. If I did her job (a job she has fun doing) you would find me hanging in my cubicle within about 3 minutes. But before you determine that this career isn’t for you, make sure you are honest with yourself. Have you done the activity necessary to be successful? If you aren’t doing the work, you will never know if this career would have been fun.

Question: How do you deal with a bad day? Do you go home, sulk, kick the dog, and complain? Or do you take a breath and say, “I live to fight another day! Tomorrow will be better!” Let us know below what you do to make sure you are having fun.