Al McDonald’s Seven R’s for Lifelong Sales Success

By Michael J Griffin

3 minute read

This week Allan McDonald passed away. You may have not heard of him as he was an Thiokol engineer at NASA. But he lived the Seven R’s. The year was 1986. He refused to sign off on the ill fated Challenger Space Shuttle launch because of the danger the cold weather placed on the rocket fuel tanks rupturing. He was overruled. The launch happened.  All seven of the Challenger astronauts soon died after the Space Shuttle was aloft and the rocket fuel tanks ruptured and exploded.

 When NASA seniors attempted a cover up, Allan raised his voice and spoke the truth. His truth was based on his life-long compass which he called the Seven R’s.  An article in the NPR states, “In retirement, McDonald became a fierce advocate of ethical decision-making and spoke to hundreds of engineering students, engineers and managers. He and Chapman University's Dr. Maier held leadership and ethics seminars for corporations and government agencies, including the U.S. Space Command.”

Dr. Maier relates, "What we should remember about Al McDonald [is] he would often stress his laws of the Seven R's. It was always, always do the right thing for the right reason at the right time with the right people. [And] you will have no regrets for the rest of your life."

You are probably not a NASA space engineer or working for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, but a salesperson who has business discussions with clients to buy and use your products and services. The Seven R’s can be your sales compass to ethically sell to your customers. Let’s rephrase what Al Mc Donald lived by:

Always sell the right thing (your product or service)

for the right reason (meeting customer needs)

at the right time (the customer’s timing)

with the right people  (decision makers)

and you will have no regrets for the rest of your life."

I want to be proud of my life as a B2B salesperson. I want to help my customers succeed, when they win, I win. I want to sleep well at night knowing I did the right thing for my customers. I want to follow the Seven R’s in all my relationships in life. What about you?

The full NPR obituary on Allan McDonald is found here

Have a great week serving your customers by following the Seven R’s!

Michael J Griffin

ELAvate Founder

B2B Sales Productivity Consultant