Years ago there was a book written, titled The Gamesman. The author, Maccoby, described business people as falling into three classes. It turns out each of us seems to have a mix on one, two or all three that make up our drive and blaze our path through our professional careers.
A review of each of these help us understand how we can be the best agent we can be. None of us have all these traits. Most of us exude positivity, optimism and seek to do right by our peers and clients.
Maccoby, identifies four types. I edited each to conform them to the licensees’ professional role.
The first is the "craftsman," a gentle holder of traditional values, an admired worker so absorbed in the perfect craft, the paperwork, the rules, the appointments, everything must be in order. To effectively use the craftsman skills, the pure craftsman must let go some and work toward the middle, toward teamwork, customer relations; the transaction as a whole.
Next comes the "jungle fighter," dog eat dog all the way, destroying peers, superiors and eventually himself. This licensee will borrow, beg, steal and climb to the top. This is a short term strategy that results in loss of support and a go-it-alone career. It may work in certain professions and promotes self survival, but does not work as well in a sales environment. To effectively us the jungle fighter skills, the licensee should slowly convert that energy into a sincere smile, handshake, warm up to opportunity, peers, office mates. Survival depends on it.
The "company man" is occasionally effective but lacks daring to bring about bold changes: his is a world dominated by fear and caution, filled with self-protective memorandums and low-risk courses of action. We say some of us follow a path, while others make a path for others to follow. The truth is somewhere in between. The loyalty of the company man is admirable but this personality trait can be morphed into defining the company as his or her own values and company mission. To be successful in sales, you must define you life in terms of meeting your clients goals. Wake up, company man: the company is you. I like to say to my agents, ‘you can have everything in life you want as long as your first deliver everything your clients want to them”.
The gamesman loves glory and serving—not for the sake of wealth or power (though he / she may acquire both) but for the sheer joy of success. He or she does not like second best or delivering less than ideal. Everything should be the best because we want our clients, office mates, peers to be treated to the bests. The gamesman might be the first to say: to be the best because there is no other reason to be. The gamesman salesperson celebrates the smallest to the biggest successes. Life is about success. The value is putting deals together, putting people together, finding the perfect house, arranging the perfect open house. Money is a by product of success for the gamesman. The game comes first. In this case, the total transaction is the sport or the game for this licensee.