---
title: "Why Most Sales Veterans Fail to Become Sales Masters?"
description: "A veteran salesperson with years of experience consistently underperforms a rookie. The key difference lies in their methods: veterans rely on outdated tactics and 'thick black' philosophy, while masters use scientific approaches, focus on creating value, and understand the underlying principles of sales."
author: "崔建中"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2015-07-16"
language: "en"
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---

# Why Most Sales Veterans Fail to Become Sales Masters?

> A veteran salesperson with years of experience consistently underperforms a rookie. The key difference lies in their methods: veterans rely on outdated tactics and 'thick black' philosophy, while masters use scientific approaches, focus on creating value, and understand the underlying principles of sales.

Veterans Can't Outperform Newcomers
When I was a sales director, I had two subordinates: one old and one young. The old one had been in sales for seven or eight years, experienced and socially adept. The young one had only one year of experience, lacking in experience but bold and daring. The new salesperson was humble and eager to learn, often seeking advice from the veteran. The veteran was warm-hearted and often guided the newcomer on how to close deals. It was acknowledged that the newcomer learned a lot from the veteran.
However, the veteran's performance was always much worse than the newcomer's. This puzzled me greatly.
At first, I thought it was because the veteran lacked passion and was lazy, but later I found that the veteran worked hard through wind and rain, no less than the newcomer. Then I thought the newcomer was just lucky, but after several consecutive deals, you can't say it's all luck. Finally, I reviewed the veteran's projects over the past few years and found that his performance had indeed been stagnant. I was truly baffled!
An accidental event unveiled the mystery and gave me deeper insight into how veterans become masters.
One morning, the veteran came to report on his projects. We discussed a project we were tracking for a long time. When analyzing the support of a key contact, I sensed he was hesitant, unsure whether the contact supported us (this happens often in sales; you can never know everything). However, the veteran concluded that the contact supported us. I didn't dig deeper and we continued. After about half an hour, the veteran made many logical and reasonable inferences and planned specific actions based on them. Of course, the reasoning was based on the assumption that the key contact supported us. The reasoning was flawless; even an old hand like me couldn't find any flaws.
After the discussion, the veteran left, and the newcomer came in to discuss his project. Coincidentally, the newcomer also faced uncertainty about a contact's support. The newcomer was at a loss and asked me how to judge. I said that if the contact is willing to provide information about competitors, it usually means they want you to win the deal. Without hesitation, the newcomer called the client, confirmed it was convenient to talk, and directly asked about competitors (information he already knew). He was lucky; the client answered truthfully. Then it was easy; we discussed the next steps in less than ten minutes.
As many might guess, the veteran hit a wall again, and the newcomer won the deal again.
Outdated 'Millet and Rifle' Tactics
Throughout my career, I've dealt with many veterans. Some evolve into masters, but many remain stagnant for years, neither dying nor thriving. This is puzzling. These veterans have experience, are willing to improve, and even work hard, but their performance doesn't improve.
I've observed their sales behavior closely. In one sentence: they fight with millet and rifles from start to finish.
In war, weapons often determine tactics. What you have dictates how you fight. For example, with satellite positioning, ambushes become difficult; with missiles, few hills remain unconquered. The Gulf War is a good example.
This applies to sales as well. Weapons determine tactics, and means determine results. The biggest gap between veterans and masters is that their weapons haven't been updated.
Let's compare how veterans and masters use weapons in sales. Before comparing, I declare two premises:
1. Any sales action aims to increase the success rate; there is no absolute success method. All sales techniques are statistical probabilities, with varying degrees of success, but no absolute NO or YES. Good methods are those with higher success rates, not absolute success.
2. Achieving maximum success with minimal cost is one of the highest pursuits for salespeople, whether masters or veterans. Killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred is mere bravery, not what a good salesperson should do. So, another criterion for sales performance is the input-output ratio.
Okay, enough talk, let's begin!
Abandoning Scientific Methods, Mistaking Passion for Food
If you ask sales managers: What is the most important thing for a salesperson? Six out of ten will say passion or perseverance, such as tenacity, thick skin, or shamelessness. In short, it's not fearing rejection and pestering clients.
This view isn't entirely wrong. When prospecting, you do need this spirit because it's a screening process; some people aren't your clients. So, a moderate thick skin is necessary, as long as you know they're rejecting a specific thing, not you personally.
But many see this spirit as the most important factor for sales success, which is problematic. This belief often stems from another: sales is not a science or skill but entirely a quality and experience. As the saying goes: Everyone can perform tricks, but each has their own finesse.
Having passion isn't bad; what's bad is having nothing but passion. I hate Milu's old trickster saying: Attitude determines everything. That's absolute nonsense! If it were true, think about it: can an egg break a stone no matter how good its attitude? Don't be naive; even if all eggs united, they couldn't break a stone. We must face reality.
Passion can achieve things, but more often it ruins things. Think of the Boxers in history; with passion, they charged with their bodies. And what happened?
So, between 'thinking' and 'getting', never forget the most important step: 'doing'!
'Doing' is naturally the hardest step. From a sales perspective, it requires methods, skills, knowledge, training, and practice—a systematic approach and a set of scientific training methods.
What's the difference between a passionate salesperson and one with scientific methods? Let's look at an example:
Two salespeople encounter the same situation: a sales project stalls and can't move forward. This is common in sales.
The first is the passionate type. He thinks: I need ambition; with perseverance, I'll succeed; no client will reject me more than five times. So, he throws away his pride, persistently pesters the client, introduces his product repeatedly, enduring cold looks, rejections, even insults. He believes he'll succeed because he has passion.
The second is a master with a systematic approach. He thinks: According to sales rules, a stalled project may have three reasons: one, the client doesn't have an urgent problem; two, no one with authority is driving it; three, the client doesn't think they'll 'win' in this transaction.
So, he uses techniques like SPIN to explore the client's problem, or uses a Coach in role classification to understand the client's inside. If he finds the problem is the third, he re-examines the client's 'concept', finds the core value the client cares about, then finds ways through solutions, products, services, or simply by helping the client, to satisfy the client's 'win', and finally confirms the client truly recognizes this 'win'.
Which of these two approaches do you think wins? What truly gives people passion isn't failure and rejection, but success and progress. If you fail daily and remain confident and spirited, you definitely have a mental problem.
Believing in Thick Black, 'Creating' Problems Instead of Expanding Pain
Thick Black Theory has a broad base in China, poisoning many innocent buds. Many salespeople mistakenly believe thick black is sales skill and eagerly learn it.
What's the difference between a veteran's thick black and a master's sales skill? Let me illustrate:
When I was young, I often saw tinkers carrying loads to repair pots, wandering streets and alleys, calling out. Whoever had a leaking pot or pan would bring it to them. They charged based on the size and number of holes.
Since they charged by hole size, many craftsmen started scheming about the holes. When they got a pot with a hole the size of a one-cent coin, they'd quickly enlarge it to a five-cent coin; or initially one hole, then suddenly another appears? This is typical thick black philosophy.
Many veterans are devout followers of thick black, believing: 'Clients are for you to fight; defeat them and you succeed.' This is worlds apart from true masters. Thick black expands problems; masters expand pain—the pain caused by problems.
If a consultative salesperson were to fix this pot, they wouldn't focus on enlarging the hole but on making the client aware of the harm the hole causes and the benefits of fixing it. They do this for two purposes: one, to make the client know the pot must be fixed (harm); two, to make the client know they fix it best (benefit).
The difference between veterans and masters here: the former tries to create problems, the latter tries to reveal problems. A problem is a fact (a leaking pot is a fact). Since it's a fact, it can't be changed—neither enlarged nor shrunk, let alone created.
If it's a 'created' problem, sales won't last (would you go back to that thick black person to fix your pot?). But 'pain' is a feeling; guiding and helping clients discover unnoticed things is the first step to sales success. They don't 'create' anything; they help clients discover something. There's no deception. Only then can you achieve a win-win with the client; otherwise, no business can last.
Relying on Experience, Copying Blindly, Instead of Seeing Through to the Essence
In the case, the veteran had experience. Experience is useful, but it isn't necessarily fact, let alone a rule, so it can't guarantee success every time.
Experience heavily depends on the environment. When the environment changes, experience must be adjusted. So, we should learn not from predecessors' experiences but extract what doesn't depend on the environment—the rules. Otherwise, experience is just stories with little value. For example, you see someone win a client's favor by opening the car door for the client's leader, so you copy it, but the client thinks you're a car thief.
Using experience well has two prerequisites: always know the facts and learn to extract the essence.
The gap between people is greater than that between humans and animals. Each client may have unique perceptions, which in sales is called the client's 'concept', also the 'fact' they're in. This huge difference poses a severe challenge to experience.
So, as a salesperson, first consider understanding the facts, then combine experience with facts. The worst is to force others' experience onto your situation. Chairman Mao succeeded not because he had great thoughts but because he was good at using practice to transform others' thoughts and practices (experience). Always respect facts; this is the only way to sales success, even if you've been in sales for 100 years.
Extracting rules and essence is harder; it requires wisdom. Many salespeople like to hear case studies, but most only see clever methods, ignoring the essence behind them. Some experiences were useful then not only due to environment but also because they aligned with sales rules. Others were pure luck; even the veteran couldn't figure out why the client was satisfied, vaguely attributing it to 'opening the car door'.
The biggest benefit of sales rules is that they let you derive tactics from principles. The biggest drawback of sales experience is that it often makes you copy blindly. So, whether you can see the rules behind experience is another difference between masters and veterans.
The Only Benefits for Clients Are Kickbacks, Discounts, and Buttons
Veterans often talk about 'relationships', and whenever they mention it, they're either smug or mysterious. 'Relationships' are indeed significant in China, roughly divided into blood relations, classmates, comrades, fellow townsmen, and intermediary introductions. Some have explored this deeply, dividing it into levels. This is where veterans shine, and many even hold a 'relationship determinism' view.
Their methods for building relationships vary in quality but are limited to three: appealing to emotion, appealing to interest, and appealing to lust. 'Appealing to emotion' means reconnaissance, including paying for meals, opening doors, picking up kids, etc., commonly known as 'schmoozing'. 'Appealing to interest' means kickbacks plus discounts. 'Appealing to lust' needs no explanation; the streets are full of such places for salespeople.
We can't deny these methods work because the deals are there. We owe this to our social climate.
But let's be clear: we're not comparing useful vs. useless, but useful vs. more useful. For relationship-focused sales, a friend once asked me: What if the competitor gives more?
That's the key. Even ignoring moral and legal risks, what if both you and the competitor give kickbacks? Who gives more? We're salespeople, not angel investors; where would we get so much money? Plus, there's the risk of police knocking on your door.
How do masters differ from veterans here? Like veterans, masters believe the essence of sales relationships is interest, but masters think 'interest' in most cases isn't kickbacks, discounts, or buttons.
We know the essence of business is equivalent exchange, but 'equivalent' isn't the product's value equaling the client's price. The correct formula is:
Client's price = Product (service) value + Value created by Sales
That is, salespeople need to create value during the sales process. This formula also explains another phenomenon: clients love to squeeze your price, but in most cases, they don't choose the lowest bidder, even for homogeneous products (don't attribute it to relationships; losers love to attribute success to luck).
Why can some sell homogeneous products at high prices? Because the Sales created 'extra' value. Of course, kickbacks are one form.
To beat veterans, masters must provide clients with something more useful than money. What's more important than money? There are many. In every major project sale, you can find these personal interests more important than money. Heiman, author of 'Strategic Selling', calls them winning factors. Meaning, find them, and the deal is yours. These things share three characteristics:
1. Clients think they're more urgent than money;
2. Your product and solution happen to provide this help;
3. They're safer than 'money'.
The logic isn't complicated. For example, you have a government deal, and a division chief is in charge. Both veterans and masters think of winning over the chief, and both use means to help him get promoted and rich—that's human nature, no need to avoid it. A chief who doesn't want to be a director isn't a good chief.
At this point, the veteran focuses on winning the chief with kickbacks; dining, playing cards, singing, and kickbacks become his main work. The master, however, tries every way to make this sale a political achievement project. For instance, how to combine with publicity, how to align with current trends, how to find the dissemination point of achievements. If you and your product can bring achievements to others, you may bring them promotion, and bringing achievements carries no risk.
Veterans think all day about making others rich and promoted; masters think about promotion and wealth. This reversal of order changes the risk profile.
You might say: How can I guarantee my product will bring promotion? You don't need to guarantee; you just need to bring a possibility. Clients only want that possibility. Clients know we're just Sales, not the Organization Department.
However, creating value in sales is not easy (except kickbacks). It requires three conditions: deep (client) industry knowledge, keen business acumen, and polished sales skills.
Industry knowledge ensures you find problems and needs; business acumen ensures you link needs and problems to your product; polished sales skills ensure the client realizes the value of this link to them. The intersection of these three is your sales ability, which directly determines your sales performance. But these three aren't easy to master; without hard work, it's hard to achieve.
Thinking determines the way out, and pattern determines the outcome. Sales is often like this: whatever you have, you tend to use it to close deals. So, for a veteran to grow into a newcomer (master), they should consider spending some energy on building new weapons, rather than focusing all energy on sharpening the knife. Although sharpening the knife doesn't delay chopping wood, with a chainsaw, you'd save even the time to sharpen.
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