Advice to New Agents Pt III (Final)

1.) Be Urgent
2.) Don't Be Patient with Your Needs
3.) Keep Your Focus
4.) If You Think It; Ink It
5.) The Will to Win is Not as Important as the Will to Plan to Win
6.) Control Your Calendar

7.) You are not responsible for results. I have yet to meet a sales professional who could make another person buy from them. No one can make another person do something they don't want to do short of using threats of bodily harm or some other similarly egregious method. My point here is that no one individual can "crawl" into the mind of another person, push the "buy" button of their intellect and emotions and drive someone else's impulse to buy. No one has that kind of power as a sales professional. But, what we do possess as sales professionals is the ability to powerfully and effectively persuade people to want to buy through the spark of individual self-discovery.

With that in mind, consider that even the best of sales professionals have "dry spells;" periods where they don't sell anything...days, weeks, or even months where they fall short of their sales goals. Why does that happen? It happens because of the nature of human beings to be creatures of emotion and individual will that can often be unpredictable.

Too often, a sales professional will internalize rejection and the failure to close a sale. This can have disastrous affects on individual morale and happiness. Don't do that to yourself. Recognize your role as a persuader and not a "manipulator" of people. And recognize that at the confluence of artful persuasion on the part of the sales professional and individual will on the part of the customer does a sale ever close.

Therefore, the best a sales professional can ever hope for is to engage in as persuasive a sales conversation as possible with individuals in order to serve as the catalyst for their self-discovery and action towards buying. You are not responsible for results...What a sales professional is responsible for is right behaviors, or executing on the right processes that are proven to be compelling and persuasive to people.

Simply said; focus your attention on your own behaviors, or processes. Be certain to execute on those time honored methods and processes you know to be successful in yielding positive sales results. Be as persuasive and thought provoking as possible with people. And because of human nature and the strength of individual will in the buying decision; "some will, some won't, so what...next customer!" Remember, you are not responsible for results; just right behaviors. You'll be much happier professionally and personally if you adopt this "thinking."

Michael Dell, of Dell Computer, was once asked if he was concerned about the competition duplicating his ideas and his business model. His response to the question was this; "Not at all, I know we will execute better."  Execute better than your competition. Resist the urge to chase down a sale...to focus on the results.  Instead, chase down excellence in execution. The sales will follow just as the sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning. It is inevitable. You are not responsible for results...You are only responsible for right behaviors.

8.) Freedom can kill you. I've often commented in the past that people are as lazy as they dare to be...And it appears to me that some people dare greatly! One of the great benefits to being a sales professional is having the liberty to set your own work schedule. One of the great dangers of being a sales professional is having the liberty to set your own work schedule.

Yes; the flexible work hours associated with the sales profession is very attractive to industry newcomers. But, the attraction can easily become an affliction. Because of the freedom enjoyed with making one's own schedule and determining when you will "work" and for how long, there is a corresponding burden of responsibility to work; regularly and effectively. With the privilege of a flexible time schedule comes the responsibility and discipline of getting up every day and in executing on marketing & sales processes.

It's not glamorous work that we do as sales professionals, but it is worthwhile and rewarding work personally and monetarily. Success is rarely a chance thing. Often, it is something that is deliberate, calculated, and can be seen dressed in the clothing of "hard work." Success requires an individual to fight the temptation to seek the easiest path, to resist the allure to sleep in late into the morning, or to complete a task that could easily be delayed or avoided altogether.

Freedom can kill a sales professional...Don't let it kill you.

In summary, my advice to new sales professionals is this:
1.) Be Urgent
2.) Don't Be Patient with Your Needs
3.) Keep Your Focus
4.) If You Think It; Ink It
5.) The Will to Win is Not as Important as the Will to Plan to Win
6.) Control Your Calendar
7.) You are Not responsible for Results...Just Right Behaviors
8.) Freedom can Kill You if You are not Careful

Copyright © 2010 - Tony Cefalu