Are you an Uppie or a Downie
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Jonathan's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
Are you an Uppie or a Downie
Are you an uppie or a downie????
Is your glass half full or half empty?
As Forrest Gump stated “Life is like a box of Chocolates….”
Many people go through life with a perpetual frown and look of worry on their face, they see obstacles at every turn, and they see adversity where there is none.
Others on the other hand see the opportunity, they look for the positive.
As one popular song puts it – ‘I saw the crescent; you saw the whole of the moon’.
In sales we are faced with a lot of NO answers, we can sometimes feel that it is an up hill struggle at every step.
• A typical day in the life of a ‘downie’ sales person could be something like this…
The alarm is late or doesn’t go off at all; you get out of bed, only to find the eldest daughter is taking her time in the bathroom. You look forward to a fulfilling breakfast; however the last of the milk was used the previous night. So you leave the house or at least attempt too, but your partner wants you to run junior to nursery, the rain is coming down in sheets; the car takes a while to start and your boss in constantly calling your mobile, which you ignore. What else could go wrong?
The car radio station announces that there has been a major accident right on the road we have to take and delays are expected to last for hours. Why not go back to bed and start over?
So two hours late you finally arrive at your first appointment, only to find that the prospect was the one in the accident, so obviously they will be unable to see you. Still it is now lunch time, so you stop at the nearest café to get that ‘late breakfast’ only to find that you have left your wallet on the dresser table. Why not wrap in and go home?
The next appointment is not until an hour later, so you head over to their office hoping they will see you early and maybe give you a cup of coffee.
Appointment is cancelled but someone forgot to call you, the prospect is away playing golf and he had left word with your office that he is taking the competitors product. What a job, you might be better off directing traffic, is this time for a career change?
• Now to an ‘Uppie’ day…
The alarm doesn’t go off, never mind, you have time to do everything you need, need to leave the ablutions until after breakfast as the daughter is doing her usual and hogging the bathroom. Dam, the milk is finished, needs to be black coffee this morning with the eggs and bacon, still you could do with the caffeine fix. Just as you are going out the door, your partner asks you to drop of junior at nursery, after all it is only a little out of your way and it is raining. Bloody hell, just as well you are dropping Junior off, the car radio station has just put out a broadcast that your normal route is blocked by a bad accident with a few hours delay. Your boss is calling on the mobile to tell you that your second appointment for the day has phoned in to say they are going with the competition.
You get to the first appointment on time only to be informed that the person you were supposed to be seeing is held up in traffic, so their boss will see you instead. It proves a very fruitful meeting and you get the order, it seems the person you had the appointment with, should have directed you to his boss in the first place.
The ‘new client’ takes you on a tour of the office to introduce you to the partners and asks if you would like to grab a bit of lunch with them. You accept as the next appointment is cancelled anyway, mind you it just as well, as you have left your wallet on the dresser table.
During the business lunch, you find that your ‘new client’ has invited other business people in for an informal chat before they all go to play golf.
What luck! The first person you are introduced too is the person who you were going to see after lunch but had cancelled on you. Obviously you speak to them and ask what it was that proved the deciding factor in them choosing the competition over you?
He said that although their price was a bit more they seemed to be offering a better product. After a few more questions it is obvious that your product USP is exactly what he is looking for, so as a good sales person you enlighten him on the difference and that he gets exactly what he is looking for and at a better price, etc. He re-arranges the appointment for the next day with a strong assurance that he will take your product. He also asks you to go to his office anyway and speak to his Technical Director to cover the ground, and he actually calls him while you are standing there.
What a glorious day, you wouldn’t swap this life for any other.
Can you see any of your self in either of these scenarios?
One final little ditty for this addendum study…
Many years ago, during my engineering days I was told of an experiment undertaken by a group of Aeronautical engineers at British AeroSpace. This group of very intelligent people had been given a project to ascertain if a certain object could be capable of flight.
They had the all the details – wing size, body shape, etc. The written plans indicated that the engineers had a free rein with fuel, power, etc. To cut a long story short, they decided after a lot of experiments, models, simulators, etc. that the given details were not under any circumstances capable of flight. The wing size to fuselage ratio, plus the aero design of the body would necessitate an overly large power source that would not lift off the ground. So in their esteem opinion the design was not capable of flight.
It was only then that the group of psychologists who had arranged the test informed our team of highly qualified engineers that they were evaluating the flight details of…
A common ‘Humble Bumble Bee’…
Now maybe these engineers where correct in their evaluation, but unfortunately no one ever told the Bumble Bee that he couldn’t fly. He had PMA [Positive Mental Attitude].
Have you got PMA? Do you portray PMA to others, not only in your working life but in private? In your dealing with others are you positive in your approach?
People by their very nature remember only the bad negative things in life, you can do hundreds of good sales, proposals or presentations, however you are remembered for the one bad or negative situation.
You have the power in your hands to ensure that you become an ‘Uppie’.
So is your glass half full or half empty?
WWW.libramanagement.com
Are you an Uppie or a Downie - To learn more about this author, visit Jonathan Brown's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. |
