I have a number of #Sales topics, I want to get to in my BEAMS. Still, I feel I must stress a topic I have already been talking to you about further, before we move on.
I can not emphasize strongly enough that Passion must be priority above performance, yes even above profit; if you wish for SELLING; to be a satisfying career.
Why do you love to sell? How can you love to sell more? This WHY is the bedrock for sales success. It is the foundation for career happiness in the SELLING field. Technical excellence will help your selling success……….. but career fulfillment will fuel it.
A satisfying sales career can be compared to a healthy garden. You must continually work on it to get a maximum yield. No garden produces a healthy crop without tilling, planting, watering, feeding & weeding. If you want to get a lot out of your sales work; you must put a lot into it, first. It is a proportional ratio. The more you put in. The more you take out.
What I am suggesting is that passion will empower you, more than just mental conditioning or job practice. If you love to sell & understand that it is a pursuit that rises from a personal passion; you will weather the hurdles all professionals must face through the course of a career. Not only will you weather them; you will grow through them if you love what you do. “Without passion, it is pretty much over before it begins.” Dawn Abraham ……. We must be passionate to achieve happiness in the sales dimension.
Here is a quote I came up with that I recommend you remember: Your why must Be high to sell more & appreciate the success you earn in selling. The Stronger the why, the higher will be the appreciation experienced.
One of the things that prevents many sales people from high levels of satisfaction in their career is never finding their own niche. Never defining their own expertise. And because of this; they never get comfortable in their own skin, selling. What do I recommend about this? Let your career develop not just as a required task but as a mirrored image of who you are. Let the internal values that you are important to you come through in your selling. Find ways to be real and express your own uniqueness in your career. Then you will obtain fulfillment in every position, because you invest your heart, into what is getting your time.
I am still working on this very thing myself. My friend and powerful, executive leadership coach @SteveGutzler has been helping me further refine my own passion in this #sales field. We never get past the need to learn more & grow further.
In other words; you need to invest your heart into your career. Let your work be a reflection of your personal dynamics. Express yourself through the work that you do. If your selling becomes an authentic part of what makes you tick; instead of just something you have to do to survive; you will find more happiness in your work.
- I can teach you a ton of techniques but they aren’t likely to work, until you love to sell. Work on ways to be fulfilled in what you do and then the techniques will work better.
- Absolute bedrock to sales success is: You can’t win if you don’t want to be there. Fix problems with your satisfaction with your work. Address the issues of how to thrive better in your working situation and your sales performance will naturally benefit.
- Not every one naturally loves to sell but this is usually fueled by misconceptions.. Most everyone can love to sell, more than they have realized.
- These misconceptions that cause a lack of selling satisfaction can be fixed by correct concepts. Concepts of how good you are at selling in many other daily areas, of your life will strengthen you at work.
- It’s an old but idea but clearly true that Everyone has to sell to live…. So how does that relate to you and your selling career. Here’s how: Identify successful selling situations in your life. Translate these personal selling strengths into your normal working selling environment. In other words, find ways to use the persuasiveness that you have at home and play; in your work-place.
- Find ways to view your selling environment as something you do for fun, not just financial gain. You will find that you get both, if you do this.
- Often it is not the selling endeavor that we do not like but the pressure from superiors and challenges in the workplace that are the real core of what we do not like about our jobs. A lot of times, we have to accept these situations. But we can realize it is not the selling we do not like but the employment situation. How does this help? If you are fishing for a living but do not like who you fish with. Concentrate on your love of fishing. It will make the person, you are fishing with, easier to get along with. Concentrate on the joy of the work itself; if you can not find it in your situation.
- Remember the positive values that can be expressed in selling. Enhance these understandings, by celebrating the positives that selling by its nature brings into your life. A long list of these was given in a previous BEAM.
- Remember to work on the foundation of why you do and then you will find that your creative juices about what you do will flow more freely. How do you do this? Try explaining to someone in a positive way, why you do what you do. You will find, The more you are able to concentrate on the positives of your situation; the more you will be able to develop them.
- It has been said by many. But I will say it again. Selling is like taking a bath. You have to do the care-taking regularly…. Daily even………… Just like you must take the garbage can out regularly. You must regularly maintain your healthy attitude or it will fill up with unwanted debris. Throw the junk out and keep the value.
- Even with all the years of selling and practicing that I have under my belt; I still actively follow innovative sales thinkers. You will benefit if you do this also………….Don’t do this only because your employer requires it but because you are trying to gain the treasure of more fulfillment, from the mining tool of diligent pursuit.
- If you will follow these guidelines; even if you do not make a million dollars: you will feel like a million bucks.
So, in closing I state the obvious; We all want to profit from our careers. Yet, we will never derive the maximum benefit, unless we find ways to passionately enjoy what we do. A sales career offers more flexibility and incredible variety than just about any other career path. If you are miserable selling. The problem is probably inside you, more than just a condition of your selling environment.
Grade your own scorecard through self – improvement and personal gratification. Practically, always compete with yourself. Celebrate your own gain, if others do not. Not only strive for performance and profit; also, Find ways to love what you do! Put Passion in your selling career. If you do; you have just given yourself an incredible raise.
gutsisthekey 
Great read, Tim…takes me back to my real estate sales days..when I used to joke that real estate is not what I do, it’s what I am!! Once again, posted on fb, for my sons…and on twitter ! Thanks…sure glad we ‘met’..keep posting those blessed ‘beams’ ! …:) flo
Thank you Flo for the read & the share. You are a blessing.
Really great post. Connection, caring, and authenticity are so key. So many sales people get caught up in a persona and focus on their bottom line. Great reminders here. : )
Pingback: “Slam’s” Sales Tips 251-500 « gutsisthekey
Pingback: Slam’s Sales Tips – 301-400 – Expertise is Power. | gutsisthekey