At the arcade there was a game that required you to place a plunger into a cylinder.  The prizes went from a piece of candy to 500 points.  My son Adam was intrigued by the game and wanted me to play.  When we arrived at the game room he pointed out the game and kept saying, "Dad, you can do it, I know you can.  Just try, you can do it."  So, I tried the first few times and was unsuccessful.  Adam was right there, "Come on Dad. Try again.  I know you can do it.  Just move it a little to the right and a little lower.  Good, try it now."  Over a period of time I began to see why I was losing.  Then I began to see what I could do to win and then I did win.  The secret was to line the yellow bar with the center of a screw on the side of the game and place the gear in the center of the orange and green buttons.  There was little margin for error.  Over a period of two days I won ten times with a total accumulation of five thousand points.  Each time I won Adam was there to say, "See I told you Dad, I knew you could do it." All through my learning curve Adam never once called me on the carpet, never addressed what I did wrong, never put me on notice.  Do you know why?  Because he believed in me.  He knew I could do it and let me know.  When I failed he was there to remind me of what he believed I could do.  He was my coach and mentor.  Adam motivated and inspired me to go on when I was not succeeding.  He never got on my case.  As I continued to try and try again I developed a process that when duplicated would always produce the intended result. Although it was a game it became a game working at the game.

One might say, "He is only a child, you would expect that from a child.  They get excited, they don't see the world the way it really is, but I am adult."

Let's examine this.  He had a positive attitude.  He was there for me.  He was invested in my success.  If I succeeded he succeeded.  The level of confidence he has in me and his capacity to love me no matter what sometimes overwhelms me.

Now let's look at the business application of this event and the Vice Presidents of Sales & the Sales Manager positions.  Does the Manager see the role of a Manager to point out what the person did wrong, point out their failures, get on their case, put them on notice, and show them how to do it?

Or, should the Manager really care about the success of the salesperson.  I mean really care.  Should the Manager really believe in the person in the sales position and know their strengths and weaknesses?  Should the Manager be a coach and assist the salesperson in reaching higher levels of success?  Should the Manager be saying, "I know you could do it, come on try again.  See, I knew you could do it. YOU DID IT, I KNEW YOU COULD!!!"