By Chris Polek, CEO at Polek & Polek, Inc. – This quote is painted on the wall of where my daughter takes gymnastics classes. When I first noticed it, I decided I had to take a picture of it.
Think about a time when you were quick to say that something is impossible. How did you determine that it was not possible? Was it a genuine fact that it was impossible; or was it more likely that in order to make it possible was going to involve two of the most important words in sales?
These two words are what most sales people want to avoid, and at the same time achieve great outcomes.
If you haven’t guessed the words yet, I will provide you with the answer:
HARD WORK
Now before you argue with me that you work hard, I am not suggesting you are lazy. You know those days when you have put in 12 hours, you’re wiped out, and at the end of the day you feel that you have accomplished less than you expected, and feel there is still more to do? It is more likely that we are keeping ourselves busy with the easy things, rather than working hard on the difficult things (things we may even believe are impossible).
The truth is that working on the hardest things, can actually make it easier for us. My experience has been that most sales people are not willing to do the hard work that will make things easy.
Next week is an annual event: Groundhog Day
While the Groundhog will make its assessment on the arrival of spring, what if we would make an assessment of what we are willing to change today: working on something difficult, that come spring time, would make things easier?
Here are some suggestions that you could work on as a company:
- What is the # 1 problem we need to solve as a company that would make our business easier?
- What is our competition not willing to do, that we would be willing to do?
- What have our customers been asking us to do that we have been saying is “impossible”?
What about working on your individual skills? It’s easy for us to avoid learning, and practicing things, because we talk ourselves into “I already know that!” The tough question we should be asking ourselves is: “How good am I at that?”
You will be limited by your weakest points. Yes, it will take HARD WORK (there are those words again), and improving your weakest points to the level of your strengths would be like going from winter to spring!
Think about this. You could be a great sales person, but if you are weak at prospecting or networking, it is going to be difficult for you to keep your funnel full with new business opportunities.
Here is a list of some things you could focus on as a sales person:
- Prospecting
- Networking
- Role playing
- Time management
- Reading
- Writing
- Recording your sales presentations
- Public speaking
The list could go on with any areas where you need to get better. My challenge to you is to pick one, and schedule a daily amount of time that you can commit to working on it. Do that, and you can make what you believed impossible, to become possible.
I’ll be interested to hear from you. Personally, I am looking to focus on writing 30 minutes a day. Eventually, I will be able to regularly write articles worth sharing.
Good luck to you, and make the impossible, possible!
