Russell Wilson, the 5’11, 25 year old Seattle Seahawks quarterback who just won the Superbowl, loves to tell the story of how his dad pulled him aside when he was a kid struggling to make teams because he was so small. His dad would tell him, “Russ, you’ve got the talent, you’ve got the drive and the work habits, why not you? Why not you?”
Wilson says those words became the driving force that kept him competing for starting jobs on college teams and kept him working hard to get drafted in the NFL. On draft day, he watched as other quarterbacks got picked in the first round, and then the second round. The announcers who covered Wilson back then all said that if he were only 3 inches taller he would be a first round draft pick. Finally, with the 12th pick in the third round, the Seahawks drafted the undersized quarterback.
When Wilson showed up for training camp, it was almost certain he would sit on the bench behind highly prized free agent, Matt Flynn. Matt had been Aaron Rodgers’ back up in Green Bay and had a franchise record setting, 6 touchdown performance at the end of the previous season. Millions of dollars later, Matt was projected to be the Seahawk’s starter for years to come.
As Wilson started training camp, he heard his coaches say that the starting quarterback spot was open to the best player at that position.
“Why not you?”
These words rang in Wilson’s head again as he practiced, competed and performed during off season workouts and throughout the preseason. By the final game, Wilson was named the starter, and he went on to have an amazing 2012 rookie season.
As the 2013 season began, Wilson had a message for his team: “Why not us?” Every player bought into those words and that became their team mantra as they went on to a dominating 13-3 season. In February as they headed out of the tunnel to start Superbowl XLVIII, they all believed that no matter who their opponent was, there was no reason they couldn’t be hoisting the Lombardi trophy at the end of the game.
After all, “Why not them?”
As I read these stories throughout the season, I kept thinking about a similar mantra I adopted once I committed to becoming a top producer. I was struggling just to pay my rent at the time, but I’ll never forget looking at the top three producers and the porches they drove and the suits they wore and trips they won and thinking, “What do they have that I don’t?”
I realized they all were selling the product I was, had access to the same leads, the same sales scripts, the same amount of time in the day. What was different, I wondered? When I discovered it was only their commitment and ambition, I knew that I could do it too. And that’s when I developed the mantra:
“If they can do it, I can do it better!”
Once I made that commitment, I knew I could work harder and work smarter. I could learn all the top sales skills they were using, and I could perfect them even more. The old determination came back to me, and I suddenly remembered being in college. I knew I could get “A’s” there, too, if I was willing to commit, and I did. And if I did it there, I could do it here. After all, I had three role models who were doing it day in and day out.
“If they can do it, I can do it better!” That mantra drove me to succeed. I relentlessly listened to my recorded calls and committed to improving on the very next call. I learned how to qualify leads, and I learned how to listen (thank god for the mute button). I developed affirmations and began visualizing my success. And each and every day, probably a hundred times or more, I would repeat to myself:
“If they can do it, I can do it better.”
And I did. In 90 days I went from last place out of 25 sales reps to being #1. And I never looked back. Nine months later, I was the top rep out of 5 branch offices and won the closer of the year award. (That award, by the way, was a Corvette convertible. You can see a picture of me standing in front of it here – scroll down a bit).
I’m going to borrow a line from Anthony Robbins right now and say that I’m not telling you this to impress you, but rather to impress upon you that if YOU make a similar commitment, then YOU can also become a top producer at your company or in your industry.
And once you do this, entire world changes. Your family’s life changes. Your future changes. You sleep better every night and you don’t dread Mondays.
Once you become a top producer, you never go back and suddenly you know how to succeed in selling anything. I’m here to tell you, the freedom from worry, from debt, from the future is an amazing feeling and one you owe to yourself and to your family.
Now if you’re wondering if you can really achieve this kind of success in sales, I’ll borrow a line from the 3rd round pick of the 2012 NFL draft:
“Why not you?”