There is a magic in being in the sales profession. And, that magic is the opportunity to “pay the price” for success—just once. And when you do, no one can take that from you. The average individual makes approximately seven career changes during his/her working life. Diagrammed, it would resemble not a straight line, but would look more like a slowly rising roller-coaster course. Each change requiring a hesitation step, a backward move, before the individual begins heading upward again. Difficult enough professionally, and even more difficult if you consider the stress being placed on the individual and his family as they adjust and readjust to the accompanying financial and family pressures. These same people tend to overlook the fact that life has a beginning and an end. They allow their work to consume as much as 75% of their time, depriving themselves of life’s abundant gifts. How many of these struggling individuals find themselves sitting by the roadside of life watching the winners go by and thinking, “There, but if I had stretched just a bit, go I”? The secret is to discover early in life how unnecessary it is to start over, again, and again. Instead, be smart enough to search out and grab hold of a vehicle which will propel you towards your goal.
“I hated every minute of training,
but I said, ‘Don't quit. Suffer now
and live the rest of your life as a
champion.’” ––Muhammad Ali
To live your life as a champion salesperson, you have to go through the same training process as other top professionals whether they are athletes or astronauts, fire fighters or fighter pilots. Training conditions you to act and react in certain ways. This conditioning becomes a way of life based on rules, principles, and systems developed to ensure your success.
One of the most important Sandler conditioning principles is maintain a healthy self-esteem. You can’t be a champion—work effectively and enjoy long-term success—if you don’t feel good about yourself. Ironically, you fill your day with activities that have the potential to chip away at your self-esteem.
You make prospecting calls on people who either don’t want to talk to you, or if they do, don’t have the time when you call. You make presentations to people who should buy, but won’t…can buy, but don’t. You hear “no” more often than you hear “yes.” It’s one rejection after another. What can you do? You must be conditioned to not take personally, the interactions you have with prospects and customers. If they reject your product, service, or company, it’s not a rejection of YOU. And, in the rare instance when you don’t click with a prospect and they do reject you…so what? Maybe they don’t get along with anyone. Maybe they were having a bad day before you showed up on the scene and rejecting you is the only way for them to feel good about themselves. By rejecting you…ruining your day, their day is now better by comparison. Your training must condition you to become mentally and emotionally tough. You must be able to accept a NO, even from those who should have said YES, and then move on. If There's a lesson to be learned from the failure, learn it, apply it, and subsequently benefit from it. It's part of training. If you don't quit, you will live your life as a champion.
You took the first step in fulfilling your life’s goals when you chose the selling profession as your vehicle. You have the opportunity to realize a long-term payoff, if you are smart enough to make a short-term investment of time and energy. This can be the year you lock up your future. Carrying through on what you have prepared yourself to do—one day at a time—will reap the rewards waiting to be harvested. This is the time to make a new resolve to do whatever it takes to gain for yourself and your family…financial freedom, personal growth, and professional success. The vehicle is in your hands. You provide the magic!
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