Archive for the ‘Mindset’ Category

by Gerry Robert

Can’t
Blame
Passive
Conformity
Quit

There are certain words which should be deleted from the vocabulary of each person interested in success.  These words should never be uttered by the person who wishes to win in a big way.

The goal of every achievement-orientated person is to avoid these words like the plague.  How do you act around a plague?  You stay clear from the areas without even wanting to think about the areas.  You will avoid people who have just come from the plague-stricken area for fear that the plague will infect you.  If you are somehow exposed to a plague you take a million precautions to avoid contaminations.  You wash with special anti-septic soap, you visit a doctor, you take anti-biotic medicine as a prevention.  You do whatever you have to to make sure the plague does not take hold in your body.

Oh that we take such precautions when it comes to our success!  If only you made a similar effort to avoid the 5 Most Expensive Words which cost millions every year.

These five words used on the tongue, or practiced in anyway in one’s behavior is the surest way to sales mediocrity at best, poverty at worst.

Can’t

Sales Manager:  “I want you to increase your sales by at least 26% over the next 12 months.  What’s your response?”
Sales Person:      “It “can’t” be done!”

Very little in life “can’t” be done!  Remember something I wrote about in my first book:

THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS IN LIFE THERE IS ONLY A SHORTAGE OF IDEAS.

If you honestly believe that your current results is the best you can expect, then, you are probably right. Why is it though, that a relatively newcomer can occupy a desk right next to yours, sell exactly the same product or service as you and break all the office sales records?  Why do some people earn $22,000 in sales and someone just a few desks away earns $222,000?  Much of it has to do with whether or not they accept the weak-minded philosophy of “Can’t.”

“Success comes in CANS”
Joel Weldon

Why not look at challenging situations with the view to solving the problem rather than being swamped by it. When I face challenges and I face some huge problems, I never permit my mind to accept the “Can’t” option.  There is ALWAYS a solution.  I’m always only one idea away from solving whatever obstacle is in my path.

No, CAN is my motto. I might not know “how,”  but I believe that something can be done.  My job is to believe that solutions come to those who refuse to be the victim of circumstances.

Blame

First of all understand that no-one can make you mad.  You do that all by yourself.  If you choose to get involved in blame you might as well give up right now.  There is no way to succeed if you are constantly pointing your fingers to others as the cause of what is going on in your life.

No, understand that if you are to win, you must accept responsibility for your life.  The sales you make, the attitude you have, the emotional state you find yourself in is in one form or another due to some choices you have made.

Your sales results has little to do with how your company is managed. Your sales sheets are not low because the economy or the government or your wife, it has to do with you and with you only.

Are you using some strategies which are ineffective?  Perhaps, but whose responsibility is that?  Who needs to discover new and more effective methods of selling?

This word is like a cancer in your mind.  Take responsibility for you life.  Never point the finger at someone else.  If you do remember that 3 other fingers are pointing straight back at you.

“If it’s going to be, it’s up to…

my boss to treat me better,
my company to give me more leads,
my colleagues to help me,
the government to do this and that,
prospects to wake up and buy my product.

NO

If it’s going to be it’s up to ME!

Passive

I have been working with high achievers for the past decade.  I’ve heard and seen enough of them to know, without a doubt, that they leave so much of their business to chance and luck.  I call it the “Hope & Pray” technique of success.

They hope and pray for sales but wait passively for the phone to ring.  They hope and pray for referrals but do nothing to get them.  They hope and pray people that they will earn more than they did last year but they don’t improve their selling skills.  They hope and pray that the manager will get off their back but they refuse to move into action, hoping instead things will get better all on their own.

I’ve never seen the phone ring all by itself! Nor significant referrals come in, nor significant increases in income without salespeople deciding what they want changed, developing a plan to change it, moving into action and being held accountable for the success.

What I so often see, is people accepting the norm and not actively pursuing the keys to success.  Let’s take referrals for example.  Most salespeople wait passively for referrals to come in.  They rarely do, so they forget about the notion. Can’t you remember how much easier it is to sell through referrals?  Wasn’t the sale almost in the bag within the first few minutes because you were in there because of a referral?  Isn’t that one of the surest ways to sales success?  It sure is!  So, then, tell this humble Canadian columnist why you sit on your duff waiting passively for them to come to you, when there are at least 947 ways for you to go after them?

Why do retail establishments wait passively for customers to in to their store?  Why wouldn’t they create effective marketing campaigns to attract people?  Why wouldn’t they do a cross-marketing campaign with the next door shop and sell each other’s services?  Why wouldn’t they create some compelling reason for people to move into action?  If they offered some special deal, put a deadline on it and created some life around their establishment wouldn’t they be better off than sitting in their store waiting for business to come to them?

If you get off your duff, move into action, provide irresistible offers, compelling reasons to call you, provide awesome service, I promise that you’ll have so much money, you will need a wheel barrel to carry it all to the     bank!

Conformity

Salesperson:  “Mr Boss, why don’t you let me try this new sales letter idea?  It might cost a few dollars but I think it’ll pull a lot of people in.  What do you think?”

Sales Manager:  “Well, you see, we have been in business for 112 years and no one has ever received approval to send out these types of letters. You better forget it.”

The problem for so many people as far as I can see, has to do with a reluctance to try different things.

In sales for example, most methods of prospecting were developed in the 1950’s and little has changed since then for most people.  We have been told that prospecting is a function of rejection.  If you knock on enough doors you will make a certain amount of sales.  I challenge this approach.  I am one of the most positive people you will ever meet but even I could not withstand rejection type selling.  Most of the books, articles, and training teach people to simply not take it personally.  Not take it personally?  How do you do that?

No, instead I’m advocating breaking away from the way everyone else does it and sell without rejection.  I’m all for creating systems to attract more leads than you know what to do with.  How different would your attitude and motivation be if you went to work tomorrow morning knowing that you had 300 qualified leads from people who were predisposed to buy what you sell?

So much today is based on the dangerous word “conformity.”  People follow the crowd.  I call it the herd mentality.  If the masses are doing something, I recommend doing the exact opposite.  If no-one in your industry has a marketing package, you be the first.  Break the norm!  Let’s face it, the masses are traditionally wrong, especially about the earning of money.

What the world needs are success-minded individuals who are willing to challenge the “status-quo.”

“If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.”

Quit

Husband: “I have accepted another position with another company.  I’ll be joining them in 2 weeks.  I think I can make a success of myself with them!”

wife:  “Sorry, to hear!  I think you are developing nothing more than a habit called: I give up!”

The wife is exactly right.  The only thing you learn by shifting from position to position is how to give up when the going gets tough.

So many people believe that they will do better only working for another company, selling some other product, working in a different market but there is only one problem with that:  You take YOU with you were ever you go!

You never know when you are just around the corner from winning in a big way.  So the next time you think about packing it in and making a move think about staying put and working through your current problems.  The grass is not greener on the other side!  If a light came on in your car which indicated there were problems with your engine, you would think a person insane if they took out a hammer and smashed the light.  Sure the light would go “off” but that would not do anything to relieve the problem with the engine.  The same applies to sales people.  The real problem is your poor performance. Taking a hammer to the red light (your company, your boss) will not solve your basic problem.  Solve that and you will enjoy a life of prosperity in selling.

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