Always Be Coachable – What Airplane Boy didn’t learn at the National Collegiate Sales Competition

One of the coolest events of the year is the National Collegiate Sales Competition at Kennesaw State. 53 schools from around the U.S. brought 106 sales contestants who competed for the past 3 days. The top prize winner got over $2,000 in cash, a $1,000 suit and a laptop. Not bad . . . but the competition is brutal.

Once again Valpak was a sponsor and Mary Kay and I were “judges” and “buyers” for the event while Eric worked the booth. (He is young and the contestants would MUCH RATHER talk to him than me!) In each round, the competitors had a 20 minute sales role-play.

As it worked out I also had a chance to judge the semifinals and the finals. I saw TREMENDOUS sales talent . . . but one person stands out. Let’s just call him Bob. (This really isn’t his name.)

Bob is a great sales person. I know: I judged him three times. Had he made the final four he would have been in the money. There is no doubt that Bob had the raw talent to make it to the final four. Except . . . he chose to use the cheesy prop.

During his presentation, which was always awesome, Bob would ask his prospect to build a model airplane with the materials he provided. He’d say that this represents the prospect soaring over the competition because of Bob’s product. Every time I judged the event there were two professors of sales at other universities and a minimum of three people from industry who were also judging with me.

By the semifinals we started to call Bob “Airplane Boy”. In fact, when he brought out the airplane a couple of started to groan and tell the other judges, “watch this”.

At the awards banquet I approached Bob to tell him that I thought he has tremendous talent but that his airplane prop didn’t work. I told him that this would NEVER go over in the real world but he had wonderful potential. Bob looked at me and said something smug like, “Well, I guess that is your subjective opinion.” Then he pointed to his trophy (for 16th place or something like that) and said, “I guess it didn’t hold me back. I made the semifinals”. I responded that he made the semifinals DESPITE the airplane schtick – not because of it.

My goal was simply to be a mentor who has hired and worked with hundreds, maybe thousands, of sales reps. I believe I can spot talent and wanted him to know that he has great potential but what it will take to succeed in sales in the real world.

He shook my hand, said “thanks for the input” and smugly walked away like I had the plague.

As Mary Kay and I were leaving the event I saw Airplane Boy with one of his professors. He pointed to me and told his professor, “There is the guy who didn’t like my airplane bit.” The professor said to me, “I’m sure what you thought didn’t hold him back.” My response was, “It did. I was one of the final judges.”

So what is the point about all of this???????????

Here’s a simple rule – remember your ABC’s – Always Be Coachable. Just ask Tiger Woods. He made $100,000,000 last year, yet he relies on his coach to make him better.

I appreciated Airplane Boy’s talent more than anyone else at the competition. I thought he had a tremendous future in sales. Now I don’t think he has a sniff at being successful at this profession. No chance whatsoever. He isn’t coachable.

Too bad. Had he simply asked why it didn’t work he could have gotten even better. Not because I am that good at sales – but because I learned many years ago that I need to listen to people who have walked the road and cared enough to offer their advice.

The National Collegiate Sales Competition. One of the coolest events on earth – especially for those who really want to get better and have a tremendous career in sales.

Oh, by the way, I would bet that Airplane Boy is shining up his 16th place plaque instead of planning how he could get the laptop, $1,000 suit and $2,000 next year.

It’s a shame.