In selling the results of your efforts are highly visible and your performance, whether superior or just average, easily measured. Sales managers know their sales people need to be highly motivated to achieve superior sales results. But sales people face many set-backs every day – the cancelled meeting, the smaller than expected order, a lost customer, aggressive competitors… so it is no wonder that even superior sales people sometimes find it hard to keep going!
If you want superior success in sales, then it follows that you must remain positive despite the circumstances, and a prerequisite for this positivity is an inexhaustible supply of self-motivation.
There is a saying (attributed to Confucius) which many successful sales people consider the most important rule for their personal success: “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
In a sales position our motivation can “fall” many times. There are, after all, many negative influences that can affect our mood. Yet despite these negative influences, the professional sales person must find ways to pick themselves up. They have to do this so that they approach every client in a consistently positive manner. Without this positive approach studies have shown they are less successful in closing sales.
Some sales people rely heavily on external motivators to pick them up and keep them going. Whilst it is true that encouragement and support from your sales manager, colleagues and your spouse is important, you should not rely on this if you are to develop your full potential in a sales career.
Make yourself independent of others when it comes to your motivation. Your inner strength and resilience can only be fully mobilised by taking a conscious decision to increase and stimulate your self-motivation. Remember that you alone are responsible for your success and for ensuring that your motivation remains high and unwavering.
Most sales people, being more activist in nature, find it difficult to find time to read books on self-motivation techniques - so a resource you may find useful is "Self Motivation for Sales People” which is one of our on-line sales training courses that you can fit around your work load.
