Title: "Customer Finder." Age: Six. And Better at Prospecting than Most Adults

We were laying in lounge chairs in the pool area, facing the Sea of Cortez just a few yards away, being mesmerized by the gentle waves lapping the shore.

I was half falling asleep when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a small person standing next to me.

I was silent for a second and looked at my wife next to me and mouthed, "Did she say slime? What is that?"

She replied that it's kind of like Play-Doh, but slimier.

So I turned to the adorable little salesperson and said, "What would an old guy like me want slime for?"

"Oh, a lot of adults use it to help with stress."

Now I'm thinking this is going to turn into a podcast interview or newsletter article.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Ava," she said, smiling and putting out her hand. "Good to meet you."

"Good to meet you too, Ava. How old are you?"

"I'm six!"

At six I was probably playing in the sandbox, throwing things at my friends.

Now, at that moment I recall there was a small table set up by the pool with a few kids, but I thought nothing of it.

"So Ava, are you with the other kids at the table over there?"

"Yes, we have a slime company. My big sister, she's nine, she's the boss."

I'm getting curious about the organizational structure. "So what's your position with the company?"

Ava replied proudly,

"I'm the customer finder!"

I was speechless for a second. One of the simplest, most brilliant sales titles I have ever heard in my 40-plus years in this business.

"Why are you the customer finder?"

Just when I thought her answers couldn't get any better, she said,

"Because I'm the cutest. And I'm good at what I do."

Now I'm thinking I should have been recording this.

After asking a few more questions and learning about her slime company, her family, and her future career plans, I said, "Ava, I'm sorry, but we didn't bring any cash down here and I imagine you don't take credit cards."

Get your notepad out for this one.

She calmly replied,

"Oh, that's ok. We'll be set up over there by the other pool tomorrow and you can come then and get some."

I wanted to hire her on the spot.

She had to leave, because she needed to find customers who DID have cash.

I sat there thinking about this awesome little six-year-old and all the qualities she showed that we too should emulate to sell more.

Here's the challenge, though. You were born a salesperson. Everyone is. It's just that some people choose to not make it their career, and most of us lose some of the natural traits that kids have in abundance. Without having to do a call plan.

Ava showed me all of this in about three minutes. While trying to sell me slime at the beach in Mexico. Here's what she had going for her that most adults have lost.

We'd all sell more, achieve more, and honestly be happier if we held onto a few things we had at age six. Here's why.

1. Nos don't bother them.

Kids treat nos as if they didn't hear them, persistently firing off their next ask. Certainly they don’t always get the yes the first time, or the fourth, but they achieve more than if they'd buckled under the initial "no." 

And, parents, you know it’s true most kids aren't afraid to go to different levels in the decision-making hierarchy to ask what they want.

Ava heard that I had no cash and didn't flinch.

"We'll be at the other pool tomorrow."

No ego. No defeat. No story about rejection.

She was born rejection-proof. Like all of us were.

Then many got away from it at some point.

2. Kids take risks.

I about had a panic attack when I saw my son Eric, ten years old at the time, roller-blading up and off a plywood ramp. "Oh, that's nothing, Dad," was the response when I asked if he wasn't just the slightest bit scared of crashing.

Most adults play it way too safe.. Ask yourself honestly: do you regret more of the things you did, or the things you talked yourself out of doing?

3. Their imaginations run wild.

Admiring the abstract explosion of colors on paper my daughter Amy, seven at the time, proudly showed to me, I sheepishly smiled and asked, "What exactly do you call this?"

"Well, of course it's a city, Daddy, can’t you see it?" she stated matter-of-factly. Of course.

Most of us kill our own ideas before anyone else gets the chance. Stop doing that.

4. Kids have high ambitions.

My son Eric's toughest decision when he was younger was whether he was going to play in the American League or the National League when he became a Major League Baseball player.

Eric wasn't worried about getting cut. He was deciding which league. That's the right problem to have. What's yours?

5. They have great attitudes.

A trivia question on the radio asked, "What do kids do about 400 times a day that adults do less than 20 times on average?"

The answer: laugh.

I've been in rooms where the average laugh-per-day count was about three. Don't be in that room.

6. Kids are constantly active.

You can tell a lot about someone's attitude by watching how they move. Kids dart. They don't stroll. They're going somewhere. Try it sometime. It actually works.

7. They're curious.

Kids want to know why about everything. In sales, that childlike curiosity is one of the most valuable things you can bring to a call. It drives better questions and genuine interest in the person on the other end.

Ava didn't just show up and pitch. She asked questions. She was genuinely interested. A six-year-old out-discovered most salespeople without probably even knowing what "discovery" means. Think about that.