You can’t talk about sales without also talking about success. The two ideas are so intertwined that they cannot be separated. The reason? Sales quickly exposes any weaknesses and rewards the attributes, beliefs, and behaviors that lead to success.
You won’t succeed in sales without self-discipline. An inability to will yourself to take the actions will be punished with poor results. Lack of discipline is easily and quickly exposed in sales. It’s the cornerstone of success.
A poor, pessimistic, cynical attitude won’t cut it in sales. If you aren’t positive, optimistic, and upbeat, you won’t be able to handle the rejection, the different personalities you will have to deal with, or move people to take action. A bad attitude will be punished, a great one rewarded.
If you don’t care about people, if you aren’t empathetic, then you won’t connect and you won’t build the trust necessary to creating and winning opportunities. Self-oriented? Selfish? You will repulse your prospective clients. It’s still know, like, and trust, even if all of these are more complicated than the three words let on.
Determination? Please. Without a steely resolve to push forward, you will never do the necessary prospecting work and you’ll never help your dream client produce the results they need. There is nothing easy about selling. Success comes to those that stick with things long enough to succeed.
Selling is more and more a team sport, but the biggest pieces are an individual effort. One person picks up the telephone and makes the call. One person asks for the necessary commitments. One person takes responsibility for creating the opportunity, winning the opportunity, and executing for the client (even when it is their operations team who does much of the heavy lifting).
If you want to study sales, study success. The link between the two is stronger, stronger than any process, methodology, or shiny object that promises results.
Who you are very much matters.