The Parable Of The 3 Golden Rocks!

by Paul Castain on June 22, 2011

Once upon a time, in a sales cubicle far, far away, a Sales Manager put forth the proclamation that the contents of two buckets must be combined.

In one bucket, there were three, big golden rocks that were said to hold the secret to sales rock stardom!

In the other bucket . . . golden sand that wasn’t as valuable as the golden rocks but still necessary for one to achieve total sales kick assery.

The first group of sales reps approached the buckets, took the rocks and tried to force them into the bucket of sand. They pushed and they pushed with all of their might but failed miserably.

The second group approached the buckets, studied them and simply poured the golden sand over the golden rocks successfully combining the contents.

This group not only lived happily ever after, they consistently made quota and became sales rock stars.

This parable, as corny as it is, symbolizes your world.

The idea of combining contents into one bucket is your day to day and all the things you must get accomplished within that one day.

Not an easy task!

The 3 gold rocks are the 3 main things that drive your success within your role.

In sales, the 3 golden rocks are:

New Account Acquisition

Account Development

Account Retention

The “Golden Sand” is all your administrative activities that must support your 3 golden rocks.

Things like:

Emails, generating quotes, internal meetings, reports etc

When we think about the first group approaching the bucket and trying to force the rocks into the sand . . . . they represent the bulk of the population. We continually get bogged down on the administrative things and try to force the true money activities into our day, around the administrative stuff.

Kind of gets you nowhere fast!

Sound familiar?

What if we properly planned our day around the activities that drive our business and poured the administrative stuff around it? It changes the outcome dramatically because you not only get more out of the day, you approach each day by scheduling the stuff that matters . . . FIRST!

A logical question might be “How the heck do I do that?”

That will have to wait for another day because it’s a premature question.

The first question you need to ask yourself is “What are my 3 golden rocks . . . the 3 biggest, most important things I need to do every freakin day to drive success in my role?”

So what do the “3 golden rocks” in your bucket represent?

To find out more about my training programs, workshops and keynote speeches . . . click here!

  • cynthia s

    Great post, Paul!  To me the most important take-away here is to not just blindly ACT, but re-evaluate and strategize about what your goals truly ARE.  In today’s increasingly complicated business world, it’s rarely as simple as “sell stuff”.  We have to be so much more creative as salespeople, and keep our minds and eyes open for all of the various avenues in which we can ultimately get to the “golden rocks”.  I would go so far as to say that even the “golden sand” is different today than it was a year or two ago.  An example would be the impact Twitter can have on customer retention, information dissemination and customer service. 
    Thanks for continuing to push us all to evaluate and consider different aspects of our careers as sales pros.  You rock, dude!

  • Robert Couture

    Wow! What a great coincidence,

     

    Paul, I was just thinking
    about posting a question, for your group, about – why is a series of three so powerfully
    persuasive in sales?

     

    Seriously Paul, this is some scary stuff.  

     

    Robert Couture, CSP

  • http://adamoneill.net Adam

    Paul thanks for the “AHA” moment. I think for the most part I am pouring the sand on the rocks, but there are definitely times when I am forcing rocks into the sand.

    I think we would do well to remind ourselves working hard doesn’t always mean we are working smart. If we perform certain activities or tasks just to convince ourselves we are working hard rather than focusing on the meat and potatoes of our sales process we are only cheating ourselves.

  • http://yoursalesplaybook.com paulcastain

    I agree Adam.

    We need a relentless focus on the things that drive our business while balancing the administrative things that support the things that drive our business.

    Balance.

    Thanks!

  • http://yoursalesplaybook.com paulcastain

    Thanks Robert.

    I’m anxious to read the responses in the group.

    Thanks

  • http://yoursalesplaybook.com paulcastain

    Great point and to your point about Twitter, its now being used as multiple “gold rocks” these days to . . . 

    Generate New Business
    Develop Accounts
    Retain Accounts

    Thanks Cynthia!

  • LA Palamar

    Brilliant post Paul (I would expect nothing less, of course!).  I’m in heavy direct sales mode with my business and this is a refreshing, inspiring reminder of what’s important. 

    Funny – it makes me feel relaxed to boil it all down to 3 simple objectives.

    LA

  • Dknoedler

    Finding prospects, listening to prospects, sharing the right things to help them out.  Thanks for the post and I also thought about the same thing on a personal side.  Have a fun week.
    Debbie

  • Roger

    Great wisdom, Uncle Paul!

  • http://yoursalesplaybook.com paulcastain

    Thanks LA I find this an easy way to remember our daily focus.

  • http://yoursalesplaybook.com paulcastain

    Great idea using this on the personal side too Debbie . . . well done!

    Thanks!

  • http://yoursalesplaybook.com paulcastain

    Thanks Roger!

  • Cherie

    Paul, are you reading my mind or maybe we’re on the same wave length?!? I was just thinking about this 2 days ago. It’s so easy to get caught up in mundane tasks, and not the important ones.
    Thanks for the confirmation and Have a Great Day!
    Cherie

  • Jude Jennison

    Brilliant. I think I’ve just been busted! In my office on my whiteboard, I write the one thing that I am going to do that day that will make the biggest difference to my business. Normally I make sure it is done first thing in the day. This week, the same action has been there all week. I think it’s time to get on with it!

  • http://yoursalesplaybook.com paulcastain

    We might be Cherie :)

    You’re right, we get caught up in the mundane (some of which are necessary but need to take a back seat to those 3 golden rocks) 

    Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day as well!

  • http://yoursalesplaybook.com paulcastain

    I’m right in there with ya Jude . . . I’ve done that many times!

    wishing you a productive day my friend!

  • Gary Armes

    This parable, as corny as it is…
    offers incredible insight

  • http://yoursalesplaybook.com paulcastain

    Thanks Gary! :)

  • Anonymous

    Thanks for keeping us on our toes and making us accountable to ourselves.
    That’s why your the master ass kickery my friend :)  

  • Jenamariejames

    I think this is a good strategy to stay employed, when you are struggling with a lot of demands and work tasks that cannot be fit into a 24 hour day, if you ask yourself “what can I do that will impact my company making money” and make that your first rock…then when the administrative tasks fall off and you frankly fail at getting it done, your job is still secure, cause at the end of the day, you’ve still met the main target and proved your value. The company won’t want to lose you – even if you didn’t get them the report they wanted, or the forms filled out.

  • http://SellLeadSucceed.com/ Tim Mushey

    I love this parable Paul! Thanks as always for the perspective. It should really make us all stop and think about what those 3 things are in relation to our roles. We may have to suck it up and realize that a lot of the things we do are rather unproductive, and should not be denoted as our “3 golden rocks”

blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: