Why I Am Obsessed With Selling!

I wrote a post, “Sellers, Are You Really Interested In Selling?” My friend, Christian Mauer, true to form, often poses some of the most challenging questions to my post. He did this asking, “Dave, why are you so interested in selling?”

The answer is easy, but perhaps worth explaining. I’m obsessed with selling—all things selling. I’m driven to find and close deals. I’m driven to help clients address really tough problems. I’m fascinating to learn more about selling, different approaches, different tools, things others do to succeed. I’m excited by how selling is changing and the future of selling. I see so much that we can and should do to drive our and our customer success.

The “problem solving” is fascinating–whether it’s helping a customer/client solve a problem, or looking at how we sell better. I’m obsessed with my failures in selling—what did I do wrong, what might I have changed, what do I have to do to win next time?

When others ask me this question, I reply, “I get up every morning and do my hobby! I get to work with people faced with very tough problems, I get to learn so much, I have so much fun——and they pay my exorbitant fees! What could be more fun or better?”

Let me dive into it, how did I get here, why did I choose selling, particularly when it was not an obvious choice decades ago.

First, I credit my parents with how they raised me. They wanted us to constantly learn, grow and develop. We wandered the country and the world, seeing different cultures and ideas. When I was in nursery school, they bought us puzzles. Once I mastered putting together a puzzle, my father would turn it over, showing only the blank backs of the cardboard pieces. I learned how to put the puzzle together based on the shapes and not the picture. Perhaps that was a foundation to my obsession with problem solving.

Later in first and second grades, they bought me kits of science experiments. They were crazy things, but I was constantly using–and mis-using them. Sometimes I wanted to see what happened if I didn’t follow the directions.

Years rolled past, I went to the university, studying engineering and theoretical physics. I was fascinated with discovering new things, developing new theories. I planned to get my PhD, followed by teaching and research in the University.

I got diverted from that with my very first start-up. While skiing, I met an inventor. We discussed this product he was developing. We talked about different materials, designs, technologies that would improve the product or it’s maneuverability. At a very young age, I suddenly became, a start up guy. I was Chief Technologist and VP of Product Engineering for this fascinating product. We developed some initial interest, but we failed miserably! I began to realize it takes more than a great product to build a successful company. I was curious about why we failed and what we should have done to be successful.

This led me to get a MBA. On graduating, I interviewed for all types of jobs, getting lots of offers. Some exploiting my analytic/problem solving skills, some different. For some crazy reason, I interviewed with IBM for a sales role. They said, “We’re not interested, we don’t think you have what it takes to sell…..” I got pissed off, “How could these people tell me I’d fail!” I decided to prove them wrong, I kept interviewing at different IBM offices to get an offer. I was a fast learner and motivated to prove them wrong. Eventually, I got an offer. I ended up taking a role in Manhattan selling to big banks.

Once I got through my training program, I was assigned as the junior sales person on a team selling to one of the largest banks in the world. My team mates had the major data centers. I was assigned to prospect and find new opportunities in this single customer. I had a $27.5M quota and no idea how to meet it. But I was challenged with figuring out how to do this.

I wandered around talking to bankers about their departments, problems, challenges. Eventually, I found people with problems and I started talking to them about their problems and what they might do about them.

One of the most fun things I discovered about this was working with other people in figuring out how to solve tough problems. In my “science work,” much of my “problem solving” consisted of staring at my navel, thinking about tough theoretical physics problems. What I discovered and loved about selling is I was still focused on solving very tough problems. But this time I was working with other people to solve them–customers, people within the company. The process of working with other people figuring things out was one of the most exciting things I could do.

I found myself fascinated with all the little things–the details of understanding and solving problems, the details of engaging people. The tools, techniques that could make me most productive. One of the most fascinating afternoon’s I spent with a customer was standing with a stop watch, measuring what time it took for people to get things done. Learning that, enabled me to get a $60M order for a computer that wasn’t budgeted. And if I had not done it, I never would have gotten the order. I realized this in hindsight, I just was really curious about the details of how they were working.

Over time, through a number of promotions, I started to recognize that what sellers do and what I was driven to do was: Find very tough problems, work with very smart people to figure out how to solve these tough problems.

One of the things that sucked me in deeper, made me more curious in wanting to figure it out, was the people element. Many of the problems were, from a technology point of view, had relatively straightforward, though possibly not easy solutions. But the thing that screwed things up or made them more challenging was the people element. How do you get people aligned around solving tough problems?

Over my career, it’s been a consistent pattern of solving bigger and bigger problems, in all sorts of situations, cultures, and people. Figuring things out, experimenting with new things, understanding and working with people drove both the challenge and the satisfaction in helping them succeed.

Over the years, the challenges were constantly changing. Different problems, different people. A world that seemed to be changing faster than our ability to respond to it. New ways of doing things, constant learning and experimentation. Failure has and does play a huge role in what drives me. It pisses me off, I can’t stand being told I can’t do something, I want to prove them wrong. So I’m driven to learn from that failure.

In reflecting on this, you see consistent patterns or compulsions. All focused on innovation, problem solving, continually learning, doing this with and through other people.

But there’s something beyond this obsession, and, at least in my case, I think it’s the most important thing that sustains me through my failures and successes. It’s enormous FUN! I can’t imagine doing anything more fun than what I do every day. Yeah, sometimes it’s frustrating, sometimes I need to take a break and go for a ride, hit the gym, or fly to an exotic locale. But I’m always impatient to return.

No I’m not interested in everything having to do with selling. I’m obsessed with it, I’m obsessed with learning everything about it and trying new ideas. I get such great joy working with sellers and customers figuring things out.

Everyday, I get up, I get to do my hobby, the thing that creates so much joy. And I get to work with some of the smartest people in the world who want to do the same thing. I’m living my dreams!

So that’s why I’m interested in selling.

In the spirit of continuing the conversation, I’d love to hear from you on “Why are you interested in selling?” I’d love to collect your stories in the comments, perhaps we can publish these.