Are you wondering how you can develop the right sales skills so you can be more successful? Not just learn the skills, but internalize them so that they become second nature to you. Here’s how you can develop good habits and improve your sales career.
Do You Only Need 21 Days to Form Good Habits?
I am sure you have heard it said before. If you want to break a bad habit or make a change in your life, you need to work on the new behaviour or skill for a minimum of 21 days. Unfortunately, many people seem to think if they can quit smoking for 21 days they will never smoke again. The same goes for losing weight or making other changes in your personal life or your career. Not true!
Go to any gym in January and see how many people made the New Years resolution to lose weight. Now go back in February and count the number of people who are still working hard at work. The gym where I coached for 20 years would see over 90% of these new members gone within the first 45 days of starting the program. Most of them quit before the third week.
You Also Need to Get M.A.D. to Improve Your Sales Career
Spending 21 days trying to change your behaviour is not enough. Just wishing for sales improvement is not enough either. What you need to do is get M.A.D. for the 21+ days to ensure your success. What do I mean when I say M.A.D? I mean you must be Motivated, take Action and be Determined to succeed.
This same principle applies in your career. As sales trainers, we constantly hear salespeople claim they are committed to making changes to further their career. We vow to spend more time prospecting. We commit to upgrading our skills. Or we promise the boss we will do one more sales call every day. The list goes on and on of a myriad of promises we make to ourselves or our boss.
Three Key Factors to Improve Your Sales Career
Do you really want to make the change for the better? Then you need to identify three key factors to make meaningful changes.
1) Motivation: What is the long term benefit of making the change and why am I going to try and change? (WIIFM, What's in it for me?) In other words, you need to set goals!
2) Action: Am I prepared to take the necessary steps to change regardless of what confronts me in the next 21 days? You know the old saying, 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions.'
3) Determination, Drive, Desire, Dedication, All great words which highlight the need for you to be willing to commit to making the necessary changes for success.
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If you are looking for more ideas to improve your sales career, check out these 5 ways to boost your sales career from the American Management Association.
What Works in Sports Works in Sales
Just look at any high performance amateur athlete. It may be a high school 'jock' trying to get to the next level, or a national athlete working to compete on the world stage. They are motivated. They take the action required to be the best. And the and are determine and dedicated to doing whatever it takes to be the top of their sport.
Remember the 80-20 Rule: 80% of the sales are made by 20% of salespeople. The choice of which group you want be in is completely yours.
Aim Higher!
Robert J. Weese, B2B Sales Coach
“When you lead a struggling sales division from the brink of closing to over $7.4 million dollars in annual sales you can be confident, Robert knows how to engage customers and build sales.”
