There Is No “They”

It’s easy to rationalize poor results. There are lots of bogeymen that sound like reasonable reasons your results aren’t what you want them to be.

“They” in Washington

It’s the Obama Administration. Their policies are destroying the economy and making it more difficult to do business. Or, perhaps you prefer that it’s the Democratic Senate, or the Republican House, or maybe the Bush Administration is what’s stopping you from succeeding.

There is no “they” in Washington—or anywhere else—that has any greater control over your sales results than you do.

“They” as the Economy

The economy isn’t what it should be. It surely isn’t what it was. It’s still too soft. The economy is definitely what is holding you back. It’s the Federal Reserve, it’s monetary policy, it’s the price of oil, or maybe it’s food or commodities prices that are keeping you from opening opportunities.

The economy fell off a cliff between 2008 and 2009, with GDP dropping from $14.369 Trillion to $14.119 Trillion. Now, $250,000,000,000 is big drop, but it isn’t like no one was buying anything.

There is no “they” in the economy that is responsible for your personal sales results.

“They” Gave Me a Bad Territory

The neighboring territory has all of the great dream clients. This market is saturated. Al the best dream clients are taken. You know people in the neighboring territories that would make hitting your numbers easy.

As Earl Nightingale once famously said, if the other guy’s grass is greener, maybe he is taking better care of it. “They” have nothing to do with how you work your territory and what you make of it.

“They” Want the Lowest Price and “They” Won’t Let Me Give It to Them

Your dream clients aren’t going to pay more than they pay now. They are dissatisfied, but they want a higher level of service at a lower price. If “they” would let you give them the price that “they” want, you would be making sales and making your number.

“They” will always say they want a lower price, but only you can shift the discussion from price to cost. You control whether or not you are a consultative seller with the ability to make this shift. “They” who work above you on the organization chart aren’t stopping you.

There is no “they” with the power to prevent you from being who you have to be to produce the sales results that you want to produce. There is also no “they” with the power or the ability—or the interest—to stop you from taking the actions that you need to take to sell well, to sell effectively, and to produce results.

The only “they” with the power to prevent you from succeeding are the unhealthy sales beliefs that make up all of your “they’s.”

Questions

What is the “they” that you are sometimes guilty of using as an excuse to rationalize poor results or to excuse your failures?

If you think about it objectively and rationally, how much power do these excuses and rationalizations have over what you do every day?

How much more powerful is your ability to take action to produce results than any external factors?