Category: Motivating Sales Teams

So here’s the scene: Large corporate sales convention in the company’s training center in Washington State; over 250 sales reps flown in from all over the country; Sales directors, V.P.s, sales managers all running around stressing over the schedule, quotas, current sales, etc.

I’m speaking to the entire group (owners, board members in the audience, too), and after the training portion of my presentation, I ask the question that gets the managers and directors to shift uneasily in their seats: “What are the two most important determining factors in making sales and exceeding quotas?”

The reps raise their hands and start firing away, “Leads,” “The economy,” “The price of the product,” “Territory,” they yell out. The managers and directors are now sweating, and the owners and board members look irritated and even a little angry.

“While those things all play a part, the problem with them is that you have no control over them. So for that reason alone, they don’t qualify as being the most important things.” I tell them.

“There are only two things you CAN control and those happen to be the most important factors affecting your success. And they always will be,” I say.

“And what are those two things? Your attitude and your actions. Everything else flows from those two things. And the good news is that both of those things are directly under your control and when you learn to develop and maintain an expectant and enthusiastic attitude, and you take smart, consistent actions, you will always get the results you plan for.”

After I delivered this (and the rest of my talk), the managers and directors, V.P.’s and owners were all smiles. And so were the Top 20%. And that’s because they know the truth.

Ask any top performer this question, and you will get the same answer, albeit, in a different way.  Some will say it’s their training regiment; others will say it’s their mental preparation, and still others will attribute their success to visualizing a win.  But it all comes down to the same thing.

A winner will always take 100% responsibility for their results, while the other 80% will blame it on things outside their control.  And that’s why winners will always eventually win, and the rest of the players will lose and make excuses.

It’s like my friend Jeffrey Gitomer once said, “Your boss can’t stop you; your co-workers can’t stop you; your territory can’t stop you; the economy can’t stop you.  Only YOU can permanently stop you.”  (I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the gist of it.)

In today’s economy especially, it’s crucially important that you feed, develop, and maintain a positive, expectant attitude.  Things will change, and they WILL get better.  What are you doing right now to set that up and succeed then as well as NOW?

What extra actions are you taking right now to ensure your success?  Are you working harder AND smarter?  Are you coming in early and leaving late?  Are you going that extra mile every day including Fridays?

The bottom line is that if you focus on and take care of your attitude and your actions, you will not only be fine, but you’ll do even better than last year.

That was a message all 250 sales reps in Washington needed to hear, and I know that 20% of them already knew it and were already practicing it.

How about you?

First of all, did you know that you are talking to yourself all day long? (You’re thinking, “Do I talk to myself? What does he mean, talk to myself? I don’t talk to myself!”) Psychologists estimate that you are talking to yourself at a rate of 1,200 to 1,500 words a minute (in contrast, when we speak aloud we can only go up to 250 words a minute and that’s if we’re talking REAL FAST).

The problem is that most of our self-talk is negative.  And even worse, we tend to believe our self-talk and that influences our performance – in a big way.  For example, have you ever stopped to listen to your self-talk after you missed a sale?  Mine used to go something like this:

“There I go again. I’m an idiot! I’m amazed I’ve ever made a sale. This product sucks, nobody is ever going to buy and I even knew he wouldn’t buy.  I wonder when lunch is – do I have enough money for lunch today? I wonder if I’ll make a sale this week – how am I going to pay the rent if I don’t close at least X amount of business. I wonder how long they’ll keep me, shoot, why didn’t I stay in college. I hate sales….”

Sound familiar? This is the self-talk (or some variation of it) of 80% of your competition. Not very empowering, is it? And the biggest problem with this is that it leads to even poorer performance. With self-talk like this, you automatically stop using effective sales techniques, you don’t qualify properly, you begin using negative, closed ended questions, etc., and you anticipate being blown out (and then give up).  In other words, poor self-talk leads to and creates poor sales performance.

Here’s the good news: The opposite is also true. When I committed to becoming a Top 20% producer, the first thing I did was begin to monitor and change my self-talk. When if missed a sale, I began to say:

“Gee, that wasn’t like me. Let me think about what didn’t go right with that and here’s what I’m going to do to change it. OK, I’ll use this line or I’ll ask this qualifying question next time, and here’s how I’m going to improve on my next sales call.”

Then I’d pick up the phone to prospect and say to myself, “OK, watch this, this will be much better!”

And it really worked! Suddenly, it was “like me” to use proper qualifying questions and to qualify red flags. Suddenly “I regularly” used my scripts and was “in the habit” of practicing perfection on each call.  And my performance and production reflected it. Within 90 days I was the top closer in the office.  And monitoring and changing my self-talk was a HUGE part of it.

I challenge you this week to begin getting accountable for what you say to yourself, and begin taking responsibility for your attitude. When you find something you don’t think is positive or helpful, don’t beat yourself up, but rather, change it to something more empowering. I’ve been using and teaching this (and other) attitude adjustment techniques for years and THEY WORK!

The bottom line is that your attitude determines how much of your ability, knowledge and desire you have. The question is, “What are you doing to improve yours?”

Did you enjoy this article? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Sales reps have it tough today – not only are their clients and prospects harder to sell, but even their companies have pulled back a lot of the incentives they used to reward and motivate their performance.  It started back in December when many companies canceled their holiday parties and annual bonuses.  Then it continued as companies announced they were not contributing to their 401K plans and that any raises or increases in commissions would be postponed as well.

As the downturn continues, it threatens to squelch employee morale throughout organizations – from the sales reps, to customer service, all the way to accounting.  With little money for standard raises and cost of living increases, many companies are rediscovering the benefits and impact that little perks can have.

Sue Shellenbarger in The Wall Street Journal reports that corporations as diverse as Discovery Communications, Intel, and USAA have rolled out such new benefits as onsite child care, concierge services, and free massages.  Such perks may seem extravagant during lean times, but employers say it’s a way to keep top talent happy.  “While such benefits cost relatively little, they pack a big emotional wallop.”

In fact, the most effective perks aren’t always the priciest, said Carlos Bergfeld and Princess Calabrese in BNET.com.  “Studies show that cash incentives don’t stick in an employee’s mind: Most folks use the money to pay bills and later forget where it went.”  Instead, L.A.-based public relations firm JS Communications gives employees two free “I Don’t Want to Get Out of Bed” days.  Colorado’s New Belgium Brewery, best known for its flag ship Fat Tire ale, celebrates employees’ one-year anniversaries by giving them custom bicycles.  “It’s a couple hundred dollars for the bike,” says the company’s media director Bryan Simpson.  “But it means so much more.”

This is sound advice, and it shows the growing trend of how perks are becoming the new raise.  In my previous roles as sales manager and V.P. of Sales, I understand how recognition can mean much more to a sales rep’s morale than simply a cash bonus.  Here are a few inexpensive ideas you can begin implementing immediately that will have a big impact on morale and performance:

1)    Get a couple of trophies such as “Most new leads generated in a week,” or “Revenue Leader of the week.”  Each Monday present the award to the sales rep who led your team in these or other areas during the previous week.  Believe me this weekly recognition goes a long way in keeping moral up.
2)    Buy a Blu-Ray Hi Def DVD player for the closer or employee of the month award.  You can get them from Costco for $199.  Buy it in advance and show it off during the month – you’ll get great mileage for just a few dollars.
3)    Ask your employees to make suggestions as to the bonuses they would most like to receive.  Then pick one or two and offer them for the next few months.

I’m sure you can think of other bonuses that would have an impact on your sales team and other company employees.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money to keep your employees motivated, but you do have to be a little more creative.  Just remember – just because you may not be able to hand out the bonuses your team is used to, it doesn’t mean you can’t still motivate them in other ways.

Put your thinking cap on and find ways that fit within your budget and let your team know how important they are.  The loyalty, security, and production you’ll create will be well worth the effort.

Did you enjoy this article? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Every so often I feel it’s my responsibility to remind people about the single most important determinate of success, happiness and well being.  Like gravity itself, this law of being is constant; it is unchanging and completely dependable.  Every person relies on and uses this principle, consciously or unconsciously, and it never fails to deliver the exact results according to your understanding of it.

The rich, the poor, the successful, the struggling – all manner of men and women the planet over are using this law or principle of being, and it has been this way since the beginning of time.  Right now, right here as you are reading this, you are using it, too.

The exciting thing about this principle is that as soon as you truly understand and begin using it constructively with belief and expectation, you can turn your life, circumstance, your income, health, or anything else completely around.  This law can be summed up very simply:

“Everything in your life is an exact duplication of your consciousness.”

In other words, whatever images you hold in your mind, in your consciousness, will always be manifested outward as your experience.  It is the simplest of truths that you cannot hold one belief and image in your mind and manifest another.

That’s why some sales reps (the top 20%) are, and always will be, more successful than others.  That is how they believe themselves to be; it is how they see themselves, and they will always produce the exact results according to their belief.

There’s a very easy way to prove that this is so.  Ask yourself, “Isn’t it true that the results in your life, in every area, down to every detail, are an exact mirror of what you think about it all day long?”

If you’re honest, your answer is yes.  Now the question may come into your mind, “Yeah, but the reason I’m thinking about it all day long is because that’s how it is for me.  The circumstances are there (I’m not making enough money; don’t have the house/car/relationship I want, etc.) so of course that’s what I think about all the time.”

Let me ask you: “What if it was EXACTLY the other way around?”  What if your thoughts actually caused you to take repetitive actions that actually CAUSED the unwanted situations in your life to recur?

If you’re willing to consider that your thinking and beliefs might actually be the cause – rather than the results – in your life, then you are ready to finally claim the spiritual power that is the one truth that rules all of existence – that everything in your life is an exact duplication of your current consciousness.

There are books written about this power of manifestation (some call it the Law of Attraction), and it is and always will be true.  I think Dr. Robert Anthony said it best in his book, “Advanced Formula for Total Success”:

“Take all the money away from a person who is a millionaire – one who has the consciousness of a millionaire today – and within a short time he or she will be a millionaire again.  Riches start from the mind, not your pocketbook, bank account or investment.  The pocketbook, bank account and investments are the effects, not the cause.  The cause is always an idea or belief.  A person is not rich because they have money.  They have money because they are rich in consciousness.  They believe that they are rich.  Again, this is the reason that the rich will always get richer and the poor will always stay poor until they change their consciousness.”

This is why an astounding 90% of all lottery winners or people who inherit or win large sums of money end up broke and in debt – in other words, back to their original level of consciousness – in 3 years or less.  This is a concrete and measurable example of this law in action.

So, what can do you do about it?

First, stop blaming other people, companies, competition or the economy for your current circumstances.  They are not the cause; your current beliefs and repetitive thinking are and always will be the cause.

Second, make a commitment to begin treating the source – your consciousness.  You can do this by picking up and reading daily, any of the books you currently own on the power of belief, law of attraction, consciousness conditioning, and begin reminding yourself of the truth, daily.

Third, begin changing these believes and your consciousness with whatever techniques you find work for you.  There are many different ones to choose from:  You can use affirmations, meditations, becoming aware of and changing your self-talk, hypnosis sessions, prayer, practicing gratitude, or any other practice that will develop and change your consciousness.

Here are three resources I use every day that help me keep my consciousness (and attitude) right so I can remain in the top 20%:

Beyond Positive Thinking, by Dr. Robert Anthony

Find and Use Your Inner Power, by Emmet Fox (both available on Amazon.com)

Hypnosis CD’s on Success (just browse Google to find some you like)

I hope some of what you’ve read here today resonates with the truth inside of you.  If you have used your power before, then you know what I’m talking about.  Make a decision that today is the day you begin believing in and creating the life you know is possible for you.  Just remember: “If someone else can have the things in life that you want, then YOU can have it, too.”

And you will, as soon as you change the images in your consciousness.

If you found this article helpful, then you will love Mike’s bestselling book on inside sales: “The REAL Secrets of the Top 20% – How To Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone.”  You can read about it by clicking here: http://www.mrinsidesales.com/secrets_and_CD.htm

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance.

He offers a FREE audio program designed to help you double your income selling over the phone, as well as an internationally acclaimed FREE ezine. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting: http://www.MrInsideSales.com