Let me ask you a question, how far and how much have you grown in your sales life?
Take a moment, grab a cup of coffee, sit down, and reflect…go back five years ago and then push to the present:
- Are you reaching greater heights in your sales life, now?
- Have you achieved most of your sales goals, now?
- Do you feel extremely fulfilled with your sales life, now?
Success in sales does not come to you overnight. It is achieved through daily improvement and small, consistent increments over time.
Sales professionals actively think about the things they do. They objectively evaluate themselves on a regular basis. They look at things through an unbiased and clear set of lenses.
On a daily basis they ask themselves:
- Am I learning from my mistakes?
- Am I constantly pushing myself out of my comfort zone?
- Do I still believe I can do this?
Deep Questioning Starts with Looking Inward
The journey to becoming a sales professional starts with understanding who you are at your core. It is becoming more in tune with your deeper self. It is the ability to recognize what fires you up, what makes you happy or sad.
As a sales society, we’re largely fixated on the outer work. We focus on the stack rankings, where we are at quarter or year to date, key performance indicators, and the number of new clients…starting to get the picture?
Take a step back and realize that these are merely outer symbols. This does not reflect your inner world.
When you truly understand who you are, you can make a conscious effort to improve yourself and how you communicate better with others.
- How do you deal with your emotions?
- How do you react when your sales life goes astray?
- What areas do you really excel at?
- What areas do you need to work on in your personal growth and development?
The Inner Works Defines You
What makes your heart sing?
How would you define yourself?
I encourage you to become your own Sherlock Holmes. Become interested in what grabs your attention and tugs on your heartstrings.
Stop looking in the dictionary for words that define you.
Getting to know yourself allows you to tap into the road of happiness as this is critical to your success as a sales professional. Your beliefs, your attitude and your daily routines are mission-critical.
Understanding yourself can mean recognizing your shortcomings. It’s about putting them on display for others to judge.
Yes, this means getting extremely vulnerable. This starts with looking in the mirror and saying to yourself, “This is me. This is the real me. This is who I am.”
Become Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable is what ferocious self-honesty is built upon.
I encourage you to think about this one…
How can you become ferociously self-honest if you struggle to deal with any discomfort in your sales life?
Those of you who are willing to take risks, step out of your comfort zone and create some discomfort, will reap the biggest rewards.
Let this one sink in for a moment…
If YOU can’t challenge yourself to improve, then how can you challenge your clients to improve?
John Simone nails it, “The key to wisdom is knowing all the right questions.”
What questions are you asking yourself on a daily basis?
The questions you ask yourself affect the sales life you lead. The questions you ask yourself literally determine what your mind focuses on, which triggers certain thoughts, actions, and inactions, ultimately affecting your sales results.
When you can ask yourself empowering, deeply reflective questions, it shifts your mind to a whole new level and sets into motion the thinking and actions to jumpstart your sales life.
