Recently I wrote a post titled 8 Ways to Increase Your Sales Motivation.
I’ve been unpacking each of those 8 ways, and so far we’ve looked at eliminating negative people from your life, celebrating your successes each day, leveraging your best customers and playing to your strengths.
We’ve reached the 5th way you can increase your sales motivation:
5. Focus your time.
Successful people are focused. Don’t allow yourself to get side-tracked by activities other than your highest priorities. These are the ones that are going to yield the highest results.
We all have 24 hours in a day. What separates those who achieve from those who don’t is how they choose to use their time.
Your focus is to keep your focus…
There is an old saying that goes “your focus is to keep your focus on the focus.” I’ve always loved that saying. I only wish I knew who I could attribute it to. The point of it is simple — if you want to accomplish something, you have to be focused on it. We all face distractions, both internal and external.
The external ones are the issues, opportunities, people, and other things that pop into our life throughout the day. The internal ones are of our own accord, including our own thoughts, ideas, imagination, etc. Both the internal and the external distractions can eat up far too much of our time and preclude us from doing what we need to be doing.
The best example of this in sales is prospecting.
For most salespeople, prospecting is the most difficult part of the job, and because it can be difficult for many salespeople, the ability to come up with excuses of other things that need to be done can quickly cut into the quality of prospecting and the time spent on it.
Whether you are prospecting or doing other vital tasks, here are a few ways to remain focused:
- Set a specific time each day to do particular tasks.
- Do your most difficult tasks first thing in the morning to get them behind you.
- Turn off the email alert feature on your computer to allow you to focus on what you need to be doing.
- Set big goals and then create smaller goals that when accomplished will allow you to achieve your big goals.
I could go on and on with tips to stay focused, but in the end it comes down to simply having the desire and drive to accomplish what you need to be doing.
One of the key lessons learned from anyone working on a graduate degree is the ability to prioritize and focus. It’s ironic how we typically do not learn until we’re forced to learn. When time suddenly becomes precious, it is amazing how we can accomplish so much.
For me, a key way I remain motivated is by focusing 1,000% on my work when I’m working and then shutting it off 800% when I’m not working. Notice there is a 200% gap, and that is because even though I may not be engaged full-on working, I’m still open to hearing and seeing ideas from which I can learn.
Copyright 2011, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
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