"We never know the worth of water till the well runs dry"
Scottish Proverb
When hiking deep inside a forest, your vision sometimes may get blocked by the thick foliage. In order to successfully maneuver through it, you need to break out of the dense forest just to see the entire landscape.
Similarly, if you’re thick in the jungle called life, you might not be able to see tomorrow, let alone the next week.
The hustle and bustle of everyday life tends to get exhausting, zapping the energy right out of us! Sometimes it can be downright paralyzing! We have so many responsibilities pulling us in every direction. In our sales lives, we have the grind that exists in our day to day job. From family life to our social life through to our work life, most feel like we just don't have enough time to accomplish it all effectively.
"There cannot be a stressful crisis next week. My schedule is already full."
Henry Kissinger
THE PRIORITIZATION OF YOU
It's so easy to get caught up in the daily hustle and bustle of life. When it's all said and done we haven't set aside time for ourselves. We immerse ourselves in our work life and our personal life then fail miserably at finding time for ourselves.
I am a frequent flyer and during safety demonstrations on airplanes, flight attendants instruct passengers that in case of an emergency an oxygen mask will drop down. If you are traveling with children or adults that need your assistance, you must put on your oxygen mask first before tending to them. Why? If you aren't breathing it becomes next to impossible to help anyone else.
Your ability to function at your very best is no different. Take for instance your sales life. If you are so wrapped up in taking care of your clients, running and gunning, grinding it out to hit quota, your stress level increases your resources start to deplete and then BOOM it all hits at once becoming difficult to do anything.
Taking care of everyone else first and giving more importance to the work rat-race, ignoring the importance of you is a recipe for a long term disaster.
THE MOST IMPORTANT SALES APPOINTMENT
Set aside the images in the back of your head as your sales manager is hammering on you for more sales appointments. The single biggest appointment, the one you may be forgetting to add to your schedule is staring at you as you look in the mirror. It’s the most important one of them all! Make an appointment with YOURSELF!
This may sound a bit odd and you may be saying to yourself, "This is a bit weird" but it is the most important appointment you’ll ever make! Remember, you are just as important as everyone else in your life.
Acknowledge that you are important and start making appointments with YOU! Mark it on your calendar. Mentally phone yourself everyday first thing in the morning. Think about it there's no gatekeeper except the mental one!
Set the mental timer daily and when that time comes, don't miss it!
- Set an appointment with yourself to read for 15 minutes
- Set an appointment with yourself to exercise
- Set an appointment with yourself to write thank you notes to your friends, people who mean a lot to you and more importantly your clients
- Set an appointment with yourself to uncover what you could be doing better
"If you don't care of yourself then how can you take care your clients?"
INVEST IN YOU
Sales reminds of the National Football League. It's smash mouth, an in your face, full contact business sport. You get knocked down and you must rise back up. You must take rejection and brush it off just like a quarterback sack!
How many dials do you need to make in order to set up one quality appointment? I don't care if the number is 25, 50 or 75; it's downright tough!
The best call you can make, is to yourself. I guarantee you will get through 100% of the time!
Investing in yourself has the single best return on investment. Invest in learning a new sales skill. Invest in developing yourself personally and professionally. Invest in hiring a coach or mentor. Invest in building better relationships.
Invest in yourself and stay truer to true!
One must give to themselves first before they can give to others. This takes personal commitment but the rewards are well worth it.
THE OUTCOME OF INVESTING IN YOU
Sales today is more competitive than ever. Look no further than to professional sports. How hard is it to repeat as champions? It's extremely difficult as other teams raise their game to compete to take down the champions. You starting to get it? You must stand out from the competition now more than ever as a sales professional. One of the most effective ways to make that happen is to invest in yourself and your career.
Consider making the investment in enhancing your skill set and what this could mean to your sales career today, tomorrow and into the future.
Areas this could impact:
- Potential earnings - By enhancing your professional skills this can translate to higher pay and commissions.
- Job growth - Making an investment and gaining expertise within what you do allows you the opportunity to move into more advanced sales roles.
- Job knowledge – Always be learning. This allows you to stay on the forefront within your industry. Learning new techniques can have immediate impact to your job.
- Leading and motivating others – An investment in you may even help you transition into a leadership role. Think of the impact you could have on others as you inspire those around you to reach for higher goals.
"If you want to invest in something with minimum risk and a guaranteed big return, invest in yourself"
Investing in yourself packs a powerful punch!
It allows you to become the best version of yourself. As you invest in yourself watch out for the opportunities that come your way and the people who start turning to you.
Now, this one sales appointment you must not procrastinate in making!
I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way!
In 2016, I was recognized by ENX Magazine as, “The Difference Maker,” as someone who is making a difference inside the B2B office technology sector. I am passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image.
You can find more advanced training material inside the Social Sales Academy website.
I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
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