"As you go through life, make this your goal, watch the donut, not the hole" - Burl Ives I was recently reminded of this phrase by an article I read about sales and the importance of the personal sales touch, and it brought a smile to my face for a couple of reasons. One - my mom had eclectic musical tastes as I was growing up, so I was quite familiar with the rest of the song and the melody quickly returned and I started to hum it before I began to write. And two - to some degree, it personified the way my father lived his life. He was a "traveling salesman" in the 60's and 70's. He didn't sell stuff that sold itself (like automotive parts and tools). He sold things like DAP caulk and encyclopedias and GOOP waterless hand cleaner. I think on it today and wonder how the heck could someone support a family selling this type of stuff? Yet he did, and he did it for a lot of years. And he was always saying things like, "watch the donut, not the hole" to cheer one of us and keep us going. Another favorite of his was the Ant song (no relation to Dave Matthew's "Ants Marching".) You know, it goes "just what makes that little old ant think he'll move a rubber tree plant? Everyone knows an ant can't move a rubber tree plant, but he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes, he's got high apple pie, in the sky hopes." I think those phrases helped him through down times too.

I'm not suggesting that simple songs from the 50' and 60's are going to turn anyone's day around and inspire you to get back to basics, but consider your efforts lately. How many of us are calling clients and getting voicemail, or depending on e-mails to get the sale made then wondering why business falls flat? We have lots of excuses: we're busy, the client's busy, no one has time for a meeting, the expense of a personal sales call in a down year, no one returns phone calls or e-mails. These are all antiseptic practices and can be very impersonal.... As a result of these types of "sales activities" it's not hard to imagine that we're looking at a lot of holes is it?

Nothing beats face-to-face selling. Nothing. Not tweets, not e-mails, not text-messages, nor voicemail or video conferences. A meeting with the decision maker and a personal handshake go a long way.

Now is the time to get back to basics, call your customer, meet with your customer and remember why we're in a "relationship-selling" business and why it can work. I think mostly it's because this business is filled with a lot of nice people who like to do business with a bunch of other nice people. And by the way, we happen to have something that fulfills a need, or makes life easier, or improves productivity. We just need to find the time to tell the story. So remember,

As you go through life make this your goal, watch the donut, not the hole. - Burl Ives