Successful salespeople are disciplined.
Leaders are disciplined.
Successful business people are disciplined.
Regardless of your position, to be successful you have to be disciplined. Disciplined people know there are always things to work on. This is why I say, “Today’s expectations are tomorrow’s norms.”
If you’re reading this and you’re a sales manager, I want you to think about areas where people who work for you are operating at a sub-optimal level. What are your expectations? What do your people expect of you?
Once you begin expecting more and coaching them on how to achieve more, then in time what you expect becomes routine — thus it becomes norm.
One of the best examples I can think of is expense reports. For many salespeople, doing expense reports on time and accurately is a real problem. If you’re a sales manager who believes doing these on time is the norm, then that is what you have to expect today. Expect today and in time it will become the norm.
High-performing people understand this and practice it themselves. What are some items you need to work on? What are the expectations for what you want to accomplish?
Once you begin to expect and then perform, it soon becomes norm. In watching high-performing salespeople and understanding what make them high-performing, this process is one of the ways they motivate themselves.
Regardless of what you do, always plan on having at least one area where you are expecting more. Make that your focus and in time allow it to become normal behavior. One of the easiest ways to put this into practice as part of your sales motivation is by selecting one item in your sales process you want to improve.
It might be the number of sales prospecting calls you make; it might be the speed with which you follow-up with customers; or it might be something else entirely. Pick something and then set the new expectation.
Focus on the expectation and what you’re doing about it and in time, it becomes your normal behavior.
Copyright 2012, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
One Response
Mark,
This is so true and I can’t think of a better analogy better than the game of golf.
The average length of time it takes for a PGA Tour player to make the tour is 6 years. This means, each day you’ve got to get better. Each day you’ve got to inch towards the pinnacle of the golf world.
This takes discipline, measurement, focus, and determination. All in an effort to become the best at what you do.
Same goes for sales. I love it.
Sincerely,
Jon
http://SalesLoft.com/blog