What’s my potential in sales?
I have 10 questions for you, and they’re not skill-based questions. These are really emotionally based questions.
1. What drives me?
What fuels my desire? If I can’t answer that, why am I in sales? Is my motivating factor money or serving people?
Initially, when I first got into sales, my motivating factor was money, and I got fired from my first two sales jobs because I was creating havoc with customers. Then I began to realize it’s about the customers, it’s about the people, and it was amazing how that began to fuel my desire and changed my potential in sales dramatically.
2. What obstacles are standing in my way?
I am not saying this to pass blame. Obstacles are undoubtedly things that I need to find a way around.
Let’s say you need to coordinate school drop-off and your work schedule. It’s a small obstacle, but this means that you need to make your day work around that challenge of taking your kids to school.
3. Who are the positive influences I need to spend more time with?
There are people in your life that you need to be spending more time with.
In my book, A Mind for Sales, I write about two individuals who made a major influence on my life and caused me to automatically begin looking for positive people. Fast forward to today in my life, I still look for people who have a positive influence that I need to spend more time with, and I do so on purpose.
4. Who are the negative influences I cannot spend time with?
Because if I spend time with them, they bring me down.
It may be your boss. I had a situation like that where I had a boss who was absolutely a negative voice, and I couldn’t get out of that division fast enough.
5. What three small things could I start doing every day?
Success is not just doing the big things. Success is doing the little things every day.
One of the things I had to do years ago was change my morning routine and become very disciplined in it. Small changes, what time I got up and how I went about things, had a major impact.
6. What three small things do I need to stop doing?
As I go through my sales process every couple of years and evaluate things, I look for things. What are things that I need to stop doing?
About a year ago, I hired another person in my company who serves as my assistant, so I could stop doing small, time-consuming tasks.
7. Who holds me accountable?
Beyond your spouse or significant other, who in the business world — not your boss — is going to help hold you accountable? Accountability is absolutely key.
Top performers are accountable. It’s one of the big differences I find between top performers and average people.
8. What has kept me from accomplishing my goals?
Why have I not been successful so many times?
So, you haven’t achieved your number for the last couple of years. Let’s talk about how much time you’re really selling.
When salespeople look at what’s holding them back, they realize they’re spending all their time doing everything except selling.
That may be why they’re not achieving their goals because they’re so fixated on one existing customer or they’re not prospecting.
9. Are there clients I can ask for help?
Clients can help you achieve your potential because they’re going to see things in you that you don’t see. Reach out to them, have coffee with them.
I know a top-performing salesperson who every month has breakfast with each one of his major accounts, even though he’s not actively doing business with them. Why? Because he keeps that relationship, but he also asks them for help.
Ask your clients, “What do we need to be doing differently as a company?”
10. Am I willing to make the long-term commitment?
My potential in sales is not driven by what I’m going to achieve this month or this quarter. Any number of salespeople can have a rocket ship month or quarter or even a year, but can they do it year in, year out?
MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].
