Are you a professional salesperson? I’m not talking about paying your bills or just getting by. I am not talking about just sticking around for years and getting average to below-average results. I am talking about being a real, true professional at the top of your sales game. If you want to be at the top of your sales game, you can’t have scrawny sales muscles. You are going to have to put the work in to build your sales muscles.
If you went to the gym to lift weights, you would not lift weights one time for a short period and walk out of the gym with your muscles being bigger and stronger. If you wanted to get bigger and stronger muscles, you would have to work out on a continual basis.
When you lift weights or use any type of resistance training, you are tearing down the muscle on a cellular level. You are actually damaging the muscle. The reason you break down the muscle is so your muscles can heal and repair. When the muscle heals, it becomes bigger and stronger. It’s the body’s way of preparing itself for any future trauma that may occur. Its nature’s way of making you better prepared for anything that could harm you.
If you were to equate that to the profession of sales, imagine that you receive little or no training and then try selling. The results may not be good, and you would not grow. You will experience bad results and even emotional trauma, but it will be hard to learn and grow from that alone. You may even keep repeating the mistakes you have been making. Your sales muscles do not grow.
I know we have all seen the brand-new salesperson who uses enthusiasm and the willingness to serve his customers and starts off with a bang. That new and inspired salesperson leads the pack. Somewhere along the line though, he usually goes backwards. The newbie gets tired of working so hard. He goes through a tough spell with little traffic or he stops closing everything in sight. Quickly, the great attitude and enthusiasm wanes and the results start to slide. Eventually, to build a lasting career of strong results, that salesperson will have to add some sales skills, people skills, life skills and marketing/networking/prospecting skills. He will need to build some better sales muscles.
If you were to go into a gym to lift weights, would you first educate yourself on proper lifting and exercising techniques, or would you just go in and start lifting? When you use bad form to lift weights, your results are not good and you run a strong chance of getting hurt. You might even hire a personal trainer who would understand the body and its muscles, along with establishing routines to help you accomplish what you are looking for. It always helps to get more and better information to accomplish your goal.
So why is it in the field of sales that so many think they are completely prepared after just a short time in the business? The answer is that it is misguided ego and arrogance.
If you were lifting weights and learning more about how to accomplish what you wish with your fitness plan, there is still a strong chance that you will get off track. You may unknowingly slightly adjust your technique and get into improper methods. You may lift weights for a while and get good results, and then suddenly you plateau. It seems like you just can’t get better results. Your body adjusts to the trauma you receive from the lifting and in essences knows that it has seen this before and has already adjusted. The same happens in sales. If your routines are never improved or added to, you will plateau and growth will cease.
Even the best of the best can still learn and get better. There is always a way to use a different methodology that with the same effort will drive better results. The best of the best never let their ego outpace their desire to get better. The best of the best have “teachable spirits” and almost always are the ones who seek more and better ways. The best of the best know they have to build better sales muscles.
For a FREE Special Report “5 Ways to Build Stronger Sales Muscles in 30 Days or Less” email me at info@tewart.com with “Stronger Sales Muscles” in the subject line.