“Smoke what your selling”

Great quote isn’t it?

It’s from my friend Scott Ginsberg at  www.hellomynameisscott.com and it came during a discussion session on execution at the Nation Speakers Association Conference.

Getting things done. UGH. Many of us (including yours truly from time to time)  suffer from procrastination.  During Scott’s session, the idea surfaced that we tend to procrastinate on what we are not excited or passionate about. What a great insight! Every day I see procrastination with sales reps leading to disastrous consequences:

Not passionate about new business development calls? Your pipeline will dry up.

Don’t believe in the prices you are charging? You will cave in on negotiations.

Don’t feel you are offering good value in the marketplace?  You will offer discounts without the client asking.

Not passionate about the customer? You will not return calls in a timely manner.

Not excited about writing? Proposals will be delayed.

Scared to speak in public? Promotional opportunities will be missed.

Hate paperwork or admin? Reports will go not completed or your CRM will be left unused.

Indifferent about your product, service or market your serve . You will languish in the bottom 20%.

Customers can spot un-passionate sales professionals miles away. Customers will not engage with you if you lack interest in them or show you are not interested in what you do. When that happens, you fail.

Likewise, if you are not 100% bought in to the company you sell for, you will always find an excuse for not succeeding. It will be the “markets fault”, the “prospects fault”, the “competitions fault”. And, in my experience, as long as you are blaming others for your lack of sales, you will continue to not have any sales.

Everyone of you are able to be in the top 10%. You are able to be excited about what you do. Being passionate is not rocket science. Loving your customers, yourself, and your product is not difficult. But, you do have to be willing to do it. 

Are you choosing to love what you do?

My best advice if you lack passion is this:

1) Find someone in your company or your network who does have that passion and talk to them. Find out why they are excited, get their story, have them convince you of all the great things in your business.

2) If this first idea does not work, and you find yourself unable to “smoke what you sell”, get out. Sell something else.

My biggest fear is that one day you will wake up, realize you hate what you do, and discover that you are mediocre at it too. That would be a real waste.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen