At age 17, Shawn Rhodes was perilously close to not having a place to live when he got a phone call from the Marines offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: Join the service branch, which would pay for his education and travel, and see the world while defending the United States.

Rhodes said no thanks and hung up.

But the tenacious recruiter called back immediately, reiterating his proposition. Rhodes was skeptical, but agreed to talk to him in person at a McDonald’s in rural North Carolina – little did he know this meeting would change his life.

Shawn Rhodes discussed steps for building a “bulletproof” sales strategy in a keynote address at ASI Show Orlando.

There are two types of people, the recruiter told Rhodes in the middle of the fast-food restaurant: those who see their goals across the metaphorical river and spend their whole lives looking for an easy and safe way to cross the water to reach them and those who just dive in. “The Marines dive in,” he said. “Which do you want to be?”

As a Marine, Rhodes traveled to nearly 25 countries and studied what makes a solid battlefield strategy – these lessons work for sales reps too, and they’ve become the basis for his Tampa, FL-based sales consultancy Bulletproof Selling.

“You have a lot in common with Marines,” he told attendees in Orlando. “You have goals and track conversion rates. So do they. Your limbic system reacts similarly to stressful situations, like making sales calls to tough prospects. But sales reps often hope they’ll know what to do in the moment. You have to turn hope into certainty.”

Begin with a mission that’s service-focused. First and foremost, the goal of sales reps shouldn’t be to make money for themselves (which is still important), but to solve clients’ problems so they can reach their objectives more quickly and efficiently. Become their preferred provider of promo products by making it about them, said Rhodes. And that requires a plan and a strategy, not just hoping you’ll know what to say.

Rhodes shares key insights from his address in Orlando.

“Hope is not a sales strategy,” said Rhodes. “You’re relying on hope more than you think you are. If you just hope, you might not make the sale. And don’t just think that making more phone calls will mean more sales.”

Using his extensive knowledge of battlefield tactics, Rhodes walked attendees through creating a bulletproof strategy. First, build out a target package. That means making sure key information is gleaned early from your prospect – important data such as decision timeframe, the type of work they do, the decision-maker’s name and title, past positive or negative experiences with promo, anticipated budget, risk tolerance and more. “Too many people just hope this will all come out in conversation,” said Rhodes.

Next, set your mission objectives. This is an opportunity to be creative; if all you’re doing is trying to remember to ask all the relevant questions from the first phase, you can’t be as innovative in your conversation with a prospect. “Your primary objective should be to solve a problem,” he said. “It can’t just be to sell, because you’ll go through phases in business where you aren’t selling. Establish secondary objectives like having a conversation, qualifying them and learning their mission – those are also successes.”

Finally, debrief after the call – examine your own performance, the status of your prospect and how your company addresses prospects’ needs, and capture both successes and areas for improvement.

“To be bulletproof is to be dedicated to being better tomorrow than you are today,” said Rhodes. “Practice until you can’t get it wrong. Sell because you get to, not because you have to. When we’re willing to change ourselves, we can change the world.”