A career in sales can be an emotional rollercoaster. A sales person could be talking to their banker about extending terms on their current mortgage in the morning; and calling them back in the afternoon to apply for a loan to buy a lake house. There aren’t many other careers that offer so much rejection. The professionals that make it learn to motivate themselves throughout the day.
For the last 22 years, I’ve been a sales professional, sales leader, and sales consultant / trainer. All I do is work in the craft of selling (specifically, complex electronic security solutions). I’ve had a unique opportunity to spend my days in the field, in conference rooms, at dinners, and over cocktails with successful sales professionals who use different techniques to keep themselves positive and motivated. Not to mention, I wake up every day and have to get myself going, regardless of the outlook of my business. So, I thought I’d use my posts this week to share some of these techniques, which brings us to strategy #1…
Strategy #1 to staying motivated as a sales professional: Own a slogan – just one.
I’ve have used the words “Keep pushing forward” in my self-talk at least 55,000 times (I just did the math of 22 years * 250 work days * 10 times per day). Every single time it makes a positive impact … every single time. It empowers me more each year because I have more evidence that success is around the corner if I just “keep pushing forward”. It doesn’t matter what just happened today, tomorrow I just need to keep pushing forward and I’ll be fine. I can handle that – I’m in control of that. (BTW, I’ve watched the kid’s movie Meet the Robinsons about six times because of their hero’s phrase “keep moving forward”.)
Sometimes I’ve gotten kicked in the gut so hard that I almost refuse to say it to myself. However, when I do say it, I feel better and start to check out of my pity party. “Keep pushing forward” has become three words that kept me in sales in the mid-1990s, and have propelled me as a business owner today.
What’s your slogan? What gets you moving? You need one. Not two or three, but one. Give yourself a week or so to decide on one. How about this? By next Friday, decide on your one slogan that gets you going and accelerates you forward.
If you already have a slogan, what is it? Let’s fill up the comments with some positive comments to help all of us in this brutal, but awesome craft of selling.
