Getting And Staying Motivated In Sales

Sales is one of the hardest jobs one can do. Weather you sell insurance, homes, cars, toothbrushes, fridges or widgets you have to deal with irrational, irate, unrealistic customers on a daily basis as well as meet the demands for sales quotas by your employer. You receive more rejection in one day than an average 9-5 person sees in one month. So how do you stay in sales with so much pressure? What can you do to get motivated and stay motivated?

Here are some things to consider:

EAT A GOOD BREAKFAST- This sounds corny but having enough energy to carry yourself into the work day is important. If you are not energized to take an early morning customer/client then you will miss an opportunity.

HAVE A GAME PLAN- Know what you are going to do that day. Fill out a tracking sheet so you know where you are and where you are headed. If you are off track from where you want to be then you know what you need to sell that day to get back on track.

GET FOCUSED ON THE DAY- Start a few minutes early. Know your inventory. Know who you are going to meet with today. Look through your past few days visits/clients and see who you can get back in touch with.

STAY BUSY- If you are not with a customer it is natural for you to sit back and gossip with the other sales people or people in your office. We all know that gossip can be counter productive to motivation. Go prospect on the phones. Do some outside prospecting by handing out brochures or business cards to local businesses.

REMEMBER THE MONEY- We all come to work to earn it. Keep the vision by remembering the reward for all of those mundane calls, the ‘strokers’ and the people who can not buy. Keep telling yourself, ‘I am one more customer closer to a sale.’ (SALES=$$$)

WORK ON PERFECTING YOUR WEAKNESSES AND STRENGTHS- Constant training can be a motivation. When you learn a new technique to overcome a weakness you have then it makes you more confident and you can handle that situation with a customer more readily. Also accentuate your strengths and use them to your advantage when leading customers, building rapport or closing.

HAVE A HAPPY ENVIRONMENT- A happy environment is a productive environment. What do you do when you are not in one? Ignore the people who ‘whine’ and ‘moan’ about everything. Get away from them. Tell them to go away! They are just taking up your time and trying to bring you down with them.

LET IT GO- If a situation with a customer happens-don’t take it personally. Brush it off and move on. Don’t dwell on it. STUFF HAPPENS! When it does deal with it and then let it go. I have seen too many sales people let a bad moment affect the rest of their day and they get cracked mentally. If you have a bad customer remember, IT IS NOT YOU!

Getting motivated and staying motivated is all up to you. No one can motivate you. A boss or manager can yell and scream and threaten you but, only you can get yourself going and keep the momentum needed to sustain a great sales career! It all resides within the six inches between your ears. It is your mind, let it direct your life–do not let it hinder your life.

GET GOING! STAY MOTIVATED!

 

Coffee Quote #9 – Leadership

I received another sticker to put over my to-go coffee cup hole.  I like reading these unique inspirational quotes.

“The only training for leadership is leadership!”

-Anthony Jay

I thought about that for a while and paralleled that with my management career.  I think that quote is right.  I have taken courses and read books about managing, success, motivation, etc.  I have even read tips for leadership, but there is no replace for the natural ability of leadership.

Leadership is an innate talent that not everyone has.  It is the ability to do things, at the right moment, that instinctively feels right to do.  It boils to the surface and naturally comes out.  Leaders don’t train for those moments, they use their experience and judgment to make the right decisions that impact others.

You can not train to be a leader.  Leaders get out there and lead.  They learn from their mistakes and recognize what to do differently next time.

Positive Mental Affirmations

What Are You Saying to Yourself?

The Digital Recordings in Your Head:

We all have them. They are little sub-conscious sayings that pop into our heads and feed our inner being. They can be good recordings or bad recordings. However, it is mostly in our nature nature to doubt ourselves and beat ourselves up over the things that happen to us on a daily basis.

Stop and think about the things you are saying to yourself, inside your head. Many of these recordings come from outside sources. Your parents, teachers, coaches, mentors may have said things to you over and over as you grew up and now they are mental recordings that go off when certain things happen. For example:

•     You are no good at that!
•     See what happens when you do that!
•     I knew you were a failure!
•     Get your head out of the clouds!
•     You can’t accomplish that . . . it is too difficult!

Other self talk or recordings in our head are ones that just pop out of nowhere. They really do not appear from nowhere. They appear as manifestations of our feelings based on what happens to us. They come out trough jealousy, anger, fear, hatred, love, excitement or joy. For example:

•    I can never be like that person!
•    I will never have what that person has!
•    I don’t know if I will make it!
•    I’m a failure!
•    I am loved!
•    People really care for me!
•    I knew I could do it!
•    Today is a great day!

Human Nature:

If you look around at everything in the world. The media, your co-workers and even friends and family thrive off of the “negative” things in the world. This is unfortunate. Negative news is good news. No one would watch the news if all it has was positive stuff. This is a sad truth. This permeates into our lives. So much negative stuff is thrown at us on a daily basis. Gossip and drama around the workplace is rooted in the negative. Listen to what people say:

•     “He siad this…”
•     “She said this…”
•     “The economy is in the toilet!”
•     “I can’t afford to live!”
•     “The stock market is down!”

No wonder the recordings inside our head are going at full speed all the time . . .

AND THEY ARE MOSTLY NEGATIVE!

The Realization:

YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR RECORDINGS!

The Best Motivational Song Ever!

Muse is an English rock band that, in the last few years, has risen in the world stage.  Known for their energetic musick and live stage performances they produce some interesting, alternative rock and new progressive sounds.

I recently purchased their latest album, The 2nd Law which has some different songs on it.  All, which I like.   One song is called Survival.  It is the ultimate motivational song!  Whenever I get in a funk I throw it on and blast it in the car.  It get me pumped and energized agsian to face the day head on and overcome life’s challenges.

Hear it for yourself and listen to the lyrics.  Here is a YouTube video featuring Muse’s London 2012 Olympic Games official song; Survival.

Fun

When we think of work we typically don’t think of the word fun.  That is why it is called work, and not fun.  If you are in sales, then work can be defined as prospecting,  quotas, clients, presentations, closing, and training.  At times those tasks can be less than enjoyable. Now, work can be fun and it can be enjoyable.  It is all a matter of how you approach your work.

How can you make your work fun?

ATTITUDE:  It all starts with your attitude.  If you come to work thinking that the day is not going to be fun, or if you are dreading facing your boss, or a client, or you are worried about your sales figures, then your day will not be any fun.  Have a positive attitude.  No matter what the situation, throw your worries out the window and look at the situation with a positive outlook and you will have more fun in the day.

ATMOSPHERE:  This goes hand in hand with attitude.  If you have a positive attitude it will create a positive atmosphere for you and those directly around you.  Make your atmosphere light, relaxed, and enjoyable and you will find you will have more fun, and your clients, your co-workers, and those you encounter will have more fun.  Make a bubble of fun around you.  If you come across a negative atmosphere, you can choose not to join in.

EAT:  Several of my co-workers like to eat. They have a small griddle and are constantly cooking a good breakfast or a nice lunch. Good nutrition fuels the body and fuels the mind. I know when I feel my blood sugar dropping, and I haven’t eaten (when I should have) I tend to get grumpy and less alert.  My mood changes and I stop having fun.  Take a break, grab a sandwich or a healthy snack.  Cook a small meal and fuel your body to bring you to the optimum mind set, and return to having fun.

TAKE A WALK:  May times we get hunkered down, doing deals, calling clients, dealing with a challenging customer or problem and we get locked into our office, desk, or meeting room.  If you feel the fun factor dropping, take a short walk.  It can be as little as a few minutes or as long as you want. (Provided you have the time.)  A walk around the office, or around the building can re-energize you.

JOKE AROUND:  I am reminded of the Joker in Batman when he says, “Why so serious?”  I know I take my job seriously and can tend to be really focused on the task at hand.  I have my poker face on and am intensely locked into the deal, or the heat of the battle.  However, I have to remind myself to relax and lighten it up a bit.  Sales can be high demanding and intense, but every now and then you need to joke around.  I don’t mean tell dirty or incorrect jokes, or pull pranks on people.  But light and airy, jovial, banter, and talking amongst others about things makes life fun.

So the next time you feel your tension build, your situation heated, your worry creeping up on you, ask yourself:  “Why so serious?”  and put a little fun into your moment and your day!

Don’t Sweat It Challenge #2 – Make Peace With Imperfection

Don’t Sweat It Challenge #2
Make Peace With Imperfection

In this chapter Richard Carlson starts off by saying, “I have yet to meet an absolute perfectionist whose life was filled with inner peace.”  What a good way to start this strategy. I would tend to agree with this statement, being that I am a first born, type A personality, raving mad perfectionist.

I want perfection in my life.  Whether it is in sales, work, home, or family life I want it all to be perfect.  I don’t like things to be out of place and I want things to go as I planned them.  I want everyone to get along and talk nice to each other.  I want all aspects of my life to work out the way I imagine.  When they don’t, I have stress in my life.

 So, what is perfection?

It is an idealistic state of mind that says nothing ever will be other than what you think it will be.  Your friends will act the way you want them to.  People will say and do what you think they should say and do.  Events will go smoothly and go your way without challenges ever cropping up.  Customers will buy without objection or throwing problems your way. Life will be–perfect.

But it isn’t that way.  Nothing is perfect.

So what is a striving perfectionist to do?

In this exercise Richard says you need to, “catch yourself when you fall into your habit of insisting that things should be other than they are. Gently remind yourself that life is okay the way it is, right now.” I guess what he means is this; if I weren’t so wrapped up inside my own head, I would be able to realize that everything is fine.  That I wouldn’t blow things out of perportion just because they are not going the way I want them to go.

So, I used this strategy over the last few weeks.  I focused on really letting go of my perfectionist habit.  When things started to go awry, or something didn’g go as planned I sat back, took a deep breath, and tried to work through it.  Let me tell you this was a big challenge. I slipped in and out of wanting to control every aspect of my life. I had a hard time letting go of overly controlling things and often fell back into my old ways.  It is hard to step back from being a perfectionist.

However, this strategy has been very helpful for me.  Many times I was able to forget my perfectionist tendencies and find peace. I was able to accept the fact that things were not always going to go according to plan.  That roadblocks will pop up and I will have to find a way around them.  That people will not act the way I want them to act or say what I want them to say.  That situations will crop up.

This exercise made me realize that perfection is all inside my head.  All I can do is give it my best and realize that things will work out how they work out. The dust will settle and it is not the end of the world.  Trying to control everything to perfection is plain madness.

Knowing that I can’t control everything will lead me to a more satisfied, content, low-stress life.

I WILL MAKE PEACE WITH IMPERFECTION!

Don’t Sweat It Challenge #1 – Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

Don’t Sweat It Challenge #1

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

So, I started re-reading Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson Monday night.

The first technique is of course: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.

In the first chapter, Richard Carlson explains that we need to let go of all the little things that aren’t such a big deal. We have a tendency to magnify the small things and blow them out of proportion making them a big deal. At the end of this technique he explains, “So many people spend so much of their life energy ‘sweating the small stuff’ that they completely lose touch with the magic and beauty of life.”

This rang true more today than ever. The tragedy in Connecticut made me think about my three girls. Two of them are in elementary school and it made me think, “What if that happened at their school?” I couldn’t fathom it and what the parents of those children are feeling right now. My heart goes out to them.

The magnitude of what happened made me realize more that all the little problems in my life are nothing compared to what those parents are experiencing right now. I need to let the small things go and appreciate the magic and beauty of my life and appreciate my wife and kids.

I am not perfect. I have a tendency to get worked up over little things. I need to learn how to let the small things go and enjoy life more. I have to learn to let the person in the car in front of me enjoy driving 30 mph in a 50 mph zone. I have to not get upset when my daughter freaks out about misplacing her iPod. I have to not get frazzled when my oldest daughter wants me to warm her dinner in the microwave instead of doing it herself when she is standing right next to it. It is the little things that I have to let go.

Today reminded me that we truly don’t know how much time we have here on this ball of dirt.

I need to relax and enjoy it more.