The phrase “Here be dragons” used to be placed on 15th century maps marking the end of the known world. Often accompanied by pictures of dragons, these markings may have been used to discourage sea goers from traveling into uncharted waters. While it’s likely these cartographers never saw dragons in these areas, they still found it within themselves to mark the areas where they believed dragons existed. Now, some 600 years later, we realize it was silly to believe there were dragons in these unknown parts of the world, but how far have we really come? Even though we have discovered the world is round and faraway waters do not contain dangerous dragons, we use similar fear tactics everyday in the workplace, often without even realizing it. Much like the cartographers of old, businesspeople today create the best ways to present a product, choose which customers to target, and dictate the best uses for your products. Selling a product or service to a wide-open marketplace bears many similarities to sailing in open water, especially for those who are simply given a handful of business cards and sent out.

As these salespeople take to the marketplace, they are often guided only by those who have gone before them. While many of the well-charted courses of sales success are indeed the most effective routes, it is important to realize that those areas of the marketplace marked with the phrase “here be dragons” may be the next great world of income potential. Fear of dragons can be seen inside of any corporate sales meeting. As a new idea is presented to the group, there are immediately several individuals who think of every possible reason the idea will not work. It doesn’t take long for the group’s creativity and ingenuity to die, as all new ideas are kept out of the meeting. These meetings, and similar idea-sharing conversations, serve to create and recreate the company’s sales map on an ongoing basis. These maps are what your company’s people are taking with them out in the marketplace as they try to discover new customers, sell new products, and bring your company’s vessel to new lands. By creating a sales culture riddled with fictitious dragons, you are mentally limiting those who are most responsible for your company’s growth – the salespeople. While it is true that there are areas on your company’s sales map that should be avoided for fear of real danger, it is also true that when the primary focus is placed on limitation, your map serves to create a culture of limitation.

While it is also true that there could be a lot of time wasted searching for the elusive “next best thing”, it should be pointed out that, much like young children, your salespeople need to discover the world for themselves. Salespeople need to discover the best way to present a product to a customer, the best way to find new customers, and the best way to discover new uses for existing products. While business owners and sales managers can certainly provide direction and advice when asked, creating an environment riddled with limitations does not speed up the process of self-discovery. It is this process of self-discovery that enables the salesperson to discover himself and allows him to discover his own natural abilities as a sales professional. As much as you’d like to be able to control the routes they choose, the limitations required for control do more harm than good to the company. As salespeople create their own paths and discover new worlds, they will discover new and better ways to make sales and create growth. Much as navigators and explorers of the past, salespeople are only rewarded when they discover things of value. These rewards, much like a free and open marketplace, will guide the salespeople on their path.

Source by Tom Richard