Take Command

is John Hunt on a dark gray Barren patch of land a quarter of a million miles from where we sit an American flag literally hangs in an airless void this flag stands proudly on the moon today because of the dedication that talent and hard work of a particular breed of Americans called astronauts these men who first brought mankind outside the envelope of Earth must indeed possess equality as rare as the atmosphere on the moon this is a story about one of the original Seven Captain Walter M Shara Jr [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] Captain Syrup what are you doing here Pete you're having dinner with me remember hop in he told me at the gate you were taking a walk so I figured you were visiting your old Gemini launching pad well there are a lot of memories here Pete you think I don't know that this base was a customer of mine back when you and the other Seven original astronauts were getting dizzy in your first simulator well if you're all finished walking down memory lane Captain shirao will take off [Music] hey there's your Mercury Monument yeah you know I really like the Simplicity of that boy then you know the program has come a long way in just a few years first Mercury then Germany and now Apollo just look at the changes another trip to the moon boy what I wouldn't give to be part of that fantastic Adventure well Pete that's what all our training is about you worked your tail off for years practicing training studying for the big day the big day when you're up there in that Command Module going through a countdown waiting for the bolts to blow then you have liftoff and that's when you take command foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] but if you haven't convinced him what good would another survey do look you've kept the customer this late why don't you just ask for the order okay call me later problems oh none of their unsolvable that was Bob Michaels one of my salesmen I gather he's having some kind of Trouble Trouble Follows that guy around like a hound dog you know I thought he'd be one of my best men but lately he just hasn't been hacking it now uh once again if we take these figures and put them with the other set you'll see how much you save in labor cost haven't we gone through all this before well I just wanted to be sure you understand the importance of these figures Mr Stanton Mr Michaels we've been going at it now for about an hour my wife's waiting dinner for me and all you've done to this point is pump me for a lot of Statistics well I assume he was properly trained not exactly like an astronaut but good enough for a Salesman hey now wait a minute there are a few basic rules we learn in the space program that apply to any man no matter what his career is oh come on Wally you can't compare your training without of a Salesman why not well I mean it's learning how to take command isn't that what you're expecting Bob Michael to do right this minute now tell me exactly what can your company do for my company well uh we can save you money Mr Michaels I have a proposal from your competitor that can say was the same amount of money what else can you do uh well we can service here Michael's a company today has got to service its customers or it doesn't stay in business what else I uh I I told you about our special features you a few things Michaels but you haven't told me what I want to hear just give me a few more minutes I no no I'm sorry I just don't think we can do business together but thanks for coming in well thank you Mr Stanton thank you for your time all right you say this Michaels is a loser as far as I'm concerned he's got one foot out the door right now well send them to me in Denver for oh about three days let me go to work on them I don't know what if you got to lose if it works you'll have a winner on your hands come on Pete I want to prove that these basic rules will work with any salesman what do you say okay Captain Sharon but let me warn you this is one mission that may not get through the countdown [Music] good morning Captain Shira I'm Bob Michaels hello Bob welcome to Denver thank you very much hey this is quite a wall oh wow that one over there is kind of fun for me each of the events in the space program are sort of logged in on magazine covers so I as you can see I've covered the wall yeah sure this one over here is I think one of my very favorite paintings it has all the vehicles have ever flown and my most exciting photograph was this one over here of all seven during the launch countdown and you can see the spotlights Illuminating the booster in case there's a leak or some other problems such as that oh yeah all right okay Bob you're going to be with me now for three days morning noon and night I hope in that three days that I can teach you something about the space program at least answer your questions about it in addition tell you how the space program and what I've learned from it applies to salesmanship Okay now what's on your mind well there is one question I've been dying to ask you Captain Sharon when you're in space how do you you know uh okay I won't answer that one yet but I would like to ask you a couple of questions first and then maybe we can talk some more about that what do you know about my space program background are you kidding I I think I can recite it from memory uh commander of the Mercury capsule that went six orbits commander of the Gemini six that came within one foot of linking up with the Gemini 7 commander of Apollo 7 the first man mission in the Apollo program I believe it you've done your homework you notice what you used on each of the three flights Commander I was trained to take command to the best of my ability for these missions that's what I hope to teach you how to take command take command of what take command of almost anything take command of your of your territory take command of your career take command of your personal life and you're going to teach me that in three days I don't know if I can teach you that in three days but I can give you the tools and the rest is up to you let's assume that this Apollo model is a complete salesman as you can see the spacecraft is divided into a number of sections and each one has its own function now this is the first stage it has to do with your ability to handle yourself under any and all conditions do you think you're a good salesman you want the truth but let me put it this way if I were an astronaut my mission would get hijacked to Cuba I know where to start with you it's a matter of confidence but speaking of confidence I have a question Captain Shira how does it feel to be sitting in a Space Capsule on top of 50 million dollars worth of equipment that all went to the lowest bidder huh okay on that note you're going to buy lunch you're on [Music] [Applause] [Music] why are we stopping here I want to explain something to you Bob have you ever flown a plane me I'm lucky I can ride a bicycle well believe it or not pilot training is basically training yourself to use all of your faculties to the highest possible degree and this is one of the basic rules you can apply to selling Bob we call it r r now what's that instant reaction control response most of us are capable of missing reaction call it being alert if you will imagine two different men founding a fighter plane each discovers a fire in the cockpit both react instantly but one man injects saves his own life he loses a three million dollar airplane that the taxpayers paid for the second man controls his response perhaps he can smother the fire by shutting off a valve he may also have to reject but not before he controls his response long enough to weigh the situation and do you think that applies to my selling oh I'll bet it does how many times has a customer thrown a tough sales objection in you is there any other kind okay so you're ready to react the second he hits you with it now if you're a professional salesman you hear and understand the nature of rejection that's instant response the first r but if you hold back a minute before you answer the objection if you take the time to answer in such a way that you continue to control the direction of that meeting that's the secondar controlled response r and r that's something worth remembering now let's go look at some films oh it's sales training films uh in a way Bob I want you to go through these films of various space missions maybe you can get some sales ideas from those do you mind if I ask a few questions about space as we go along oh not at all go ahead tell me what happens during liftoff does your body suddenly get very heavy or what the booster weighs the same the power is the same but as the booster accelerates it is burning off all this fantastic amount of fuel which makes it weigh a lot less so you in essence get heavier and you get squeezed back into that couch to where it really is straining against you so you really become much heavier just before you achieve weightlessness and then you weigh nothing foreign [Music] that's what it's all about with all the training we've had all the simulations we've had we train for every contingency that's the true what if world now the what if principle really means what if one of the engines fails to ignite what if we lose our oxygen supply in our cabin pressurization what if the spacecraft goes out of control these are the what-ifs well I see you've gotten to know your job so well that you're able to cover any possible situation right you see how that can apply to sales I sure can what if the customer says he's got a better price for my competitor what if he tells me that our products don't meet his specifications what if he gets a phone call in the middle of the meeting you got to start training yourself Bob you've got to be prepared for every contingency you've got to practice the what ifs so you're ready for any circumstance I see come on we've got a meeting with Chuck Wilson I'll turn this off okay and if we can just get this idea across I think that we can sell them on it well what do you think makes a lot of sense what do you think Bob what you don't want an opinion from me I don't know anything about your company yet do you see some holes in Chuck's presentation well uh do you want to see him make the sale yes but don't let them lose the sale because you want to be polite have the guts to tell them what you really think well uh okay look I'm uh probably sticking my neck out a mile but uh what if they don't agree that these figures are correct well they have to we have proof yes but what if they have had another survey taken and they've come up with different answers won't that make your whole sales picture fall apart here that is only an assumption have you got any other facts to support this I'm sure that I can get some okay then I think we do have a weakness there let's get some facts so we can support it from at least two directions then we can't get shot down what if I can't get the presentation ready until tomorrow that's a wonder if it doesn't exist Chuck right it will be ready in the morning I'll never forget this one I'm going to mentally prepare myself for every customer meeting with every what if I can think of you thought I gave Chuck a hard time today didn't you well you don't get Second Chances you don't get second chances in space and you don't get Second Chances here on Earth we're going to make that sale tomorrow and you helped by throwing those what ifs at Chuck well I just hope I didn't make an enemy he'll thank you for it when those same questions come up tomorrow well tonight you're on your own do you think you can stay out of trouble I've got so many what-ifs to think about for next week's meetings I'll be lucky if I get dinner you know Wally I learned a lot about selling today so did I so did I [Music] good morning Bob for morning Wally say I want to share some of my space souvenirs if you're interested oh I sure am well this is one of my early favorites from the lovely Apollo room here's how he took pictures of those cut-ups this was our hustle blood camera yeah and as you can see it looks kind of crummy but we stripped off all the non-functional externals to save weight this is where you see all those original great pictures we got from space yeah of course this one's still in orbit I understand is there really yeah I think it was Gemini 4 they lost it on the Ed White flight this is a piece of our Apollo 7 heat shield see the black on the bottom then it gets lighter and lighters because it gets up to here oh I see well the lighter brown part is the base of the cabin wall but the external surface is the bottom of the black now outside it gets up to about 3000 degrees Fahrenheit three thousand three thousand now inside the spacecraft just this little layer inside the spacecraft it's about 80 degrees so it's perfectly living fine environment well Bob we have a busy day ahead you've got to attend this presentation that Chuck is giving I'd like to have you join me at this luncheon address I'm giving and later this afternoon I think we can take some time off and enjoy ourselves a little bit all right fine Captain but first I I want to ask you a question not that again no no it's not that it says I've been thinking about what you said yesterday you know something you would have made a great salesman Hey listen Bob let me tell you something all of the original Seven astronauts had to be salesmen as well as test pilots and engineers in fact I can recall one time we had to work on the civilian Engineers to install a window in the Mercury spacecraft this was a five hundred thousand dollar decision and we had to make it was it really that important Bob without that window we couldn't have affected the Final Phase of rendezvous with the lamb and the Command Module say I remember to proved that with Gemini 6. that was a tough docking maneuver wasn't it [Applause] together formation was seven everything is go here Roger congratulations excellent thank you it was a lot of fun I'm often asked if an astronaut experiences fear at the moment of liftoff the answer gentleman is no if there's anything we've learned in the space program that is to train out fear when my crew and I are assigned to the Apollo 7 Mission a lot of people thought that we would have this fear we had just lost three good friends and a terrible tragedy Gus Grissom Ed White and Roger Chaffee but the Space Program had to move on and I could assure you that we were not fearful at any point in that flight nor was Jim Lovell and his crew of Apollo 13 when they endured a mishap that could have cost them their lives you don't have to be an astronaut to learn how to train out fear when the unexpected happens to you and it will fear won't help you out of your problems he must learn to train out fear and replace it with mild apprehension then you can take action to eliminate the cause of that fear no tell me exactly what your company can do for my company you told me lots of things what else can you do I just don't think we can do business I just don't think we can do business together I just don't think we can do this here's a luxury we cannot afford Panic is next and I can assure you gentlemen that commanding a spacecraft requires no more of a man than the proper control of every element in his life the man learns to take command of every situation that confronts him truly takes command of his own future thank you [Music] [Applause] thank you right now [Music] Bob had to let them ride that's great I haven't ridden a horse in years oh but Pete Jenkins isn't gonna think that this is part of my sales training well this is what you call think time every salesman needs that what else did you want to talk to me about well it says business about training out fear you know you really hit on with that point well if you don't learn to train a fear Bob all of a sudden that adrenaline starts pouring up in your body and you're helpless that's happened to me more times I care to remember you know even before I call on a prospect I can feel the fear building up how do you get rid of that well first find the cause is it is it a lack of confidence and the product the people who make it Spearhead helps anybody true at liftoff we know exactly what's going to happen we've been trained as well as a man can be trained and what's most important we know that anyone everyone involved in the mission is to put mind and body and soul into making sure that that mission will be a total success to see how that applies to your job I I think so of course I do I have to have the same confidence in the products I sell not just the products or services but the people that stand behind them the research and development team the engineers the production people and your own management that's what trains out fear what are we doing here this is one of my very favorite places I wanted to share it with you I was thinking no matter how beautiful this planet looks from space never match what we're looking at right now Wally I want to ask you something do you miss not being the first man to set foot on the moon not really you see Bob I was there we were all there John Glenn Gordo Cooper Al Shepard Scott Carpenter Deeks Layton Gus Grissom and myself we were there when it started everything we did from our first day in the program helped Neil Armstrong to make that historic first step how did you feel when you saw Neil Armstrong descending from the capsule did I feel I felt proud all I could think of was thank God we made it yeah we can see you coming down the ladder now okay I just checked getting back up to that first step uh that isn't collapsed too far but uh it's adequate to get back up these lamb footbeds are only uh depressed in the surface about one or two inches I'm gonna step off the lamb now one small step for man one guy at least [Music] while there's one principle that will work for you no matter what you do in life I guess you'd call it the power of pride oh I can understand that in an astronaut you have something to hang your pride on but but my job especially in your job think about it what does pride mean to a Salesman I'm not talking about vanity I mean genuine pride and the fact that you're the man in your territory represents all the good your company can do and how about pride and the products you sell or your company's reputation and most of all Bob pride in yourself knowing that your company made the right decision when they picked you to represent them that's the power of pride um I think you're going to be a great salesman you know something I believe you hey come on we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow all right well what's on the docket for this morning this morning you've got a job for your own company oh Pete Jenkins just called do you know uh Fred Bertram I sure do I've been trying to get him to listen to a presentation for almost three months well today's your lucky day Mr burcham's in town and you're going to meet with him at 2PM you're joking you're not joking it's about time we see whether these astronaut sales techniques are working for you I'll see it too and so Mr Bertram these grats tell the whole story you have the supporting documents in front of you they will prove that this system will work for you that's very interesting Mr Michaels you do understand however that your statements don't agree with a government survey of two years ago that's correct Mr Bertram however just yesterday we presented our findings to uh Mr Richards the director of that Division and he concurs that conditions have changed sufficiently that our facts are much more contemporary than the reports are referring to you may check with him if you like I see are there any other questions no you seem to have documented everything from two or three different angles this has been quite a revelation suppose we set a meeting uh next week uh back home how does Mundy suit you Mr Michaels Monday suits me just fine Mr Bertram good old RNR instant reaction control response which simply means think before you answer and make sure that that answer will help you make that sale so what if principle that one came in handy today it'll work every day never call on a prospect until you've asked yourself all of the what-ifs train out fear that doesn't happen overnight but you made a good start so you know you can do it the power of pride you taught me that Wally better than I ever learned before it's there in all of us although we're often embarrassed to admit it and this one is what it's all about Bob take command I failed to do that in my territory I made All the Right Moves but that's about all but from now on it's going to be different I promise you well Bob you're going to go back to your own territory you're going to be the sole representative for your company don't let him down now as a graduation present Bob I'll answer that question you've been asking me for the last three days well that's how you do it I I'll be and remember that's a space Secret okay Bob Michaels your customers are waiting out there for you take command thank you Captain shirock [Music] five four three [Music] [Music]