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Are You Average?

Written by: Laura Posey

Article Overview: Learn why average just won't cut it sales anymore and what it takes to get beyond the rest of the pack.

Are You Average?

I’ve spent a long time studying salespeople and I’ve discovered that there are two kinds of people making a living in sales. One group happens to make a lot more than the other, though. Read on to see which kind you are.

The average salesperson works hard, sometimes 50-60 hours per week, calling, setting appointments, closing deals and hoping to make $50-60,000 in a good year. Sometimes he even gets lucky and makes up to $100,000, but he never seems to figure out how to consistently earn that high an income. No matter how longs he’s been in sales, he still makes cold calls, he still works harder than he think he should, and he still isn’t making the money he was promised when he took the job. Sometimes he’s tried working for a few different companies, chasing another golden dream, but his results are often the same as at the last company. He takes his two weeks vacation to get away from it all at an affordable spot and wishes things were better.

By contrast, the great salesperson works no more than 40 hours per week and enjoys an income over $150,000. He has more free time and more money to enjoy it than the average salesperson. He spends time with his family and friends and enjoys time to pursue his hobbies. He usually takes 4-6 weeks of vacation per year at places he’s always dreamed about and does so without worry. His business is based on referrals and he doesn’t need to fill his pipeline with cold calls. Clients and prospects seek him out, instead of him having to chase them. He is happy and his sales life seems filled with ease. To the average salesperson he appears to be a born salesperson, or lucky, or both.

So why are some salespeople average and some great? I can tell you this; it has nothing to do with luck or birth. It has to do with their attitudes and their behaviors. That’s it. It’s what they think and what they do that separates them. It is how they perceive themselves and consequently how others perceive them that makes their results so dramatically different.

As I’ve studied these differences I’ve tried to find a way to summarize quickly and easily what makes some great and others mediocre. What I’ve determined is this; great salespeople think and behave like Professionals in every sense of the word and average salespeople think and behave like, well, Average Salespeople.

Think about it. What comes to mind when you think about the word “professional”? Well-educated, well-dressed, intelligent, caring, committed, dedicated, etc. You get the picture. Professionals are people we look up to, to whom we listen, to whom we turn for advice and counsel. Often we consider such occupations as doctor, lawyer, and accountant as “professions”, while other occupations, sales included, fall into the categories of “career’ or “job”.

It’s not just our perceptions that put Professionals at a different level. Webster defines “professional” as:
“Characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession (2) : exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace”
and “profession” as:
“a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation b : a principal calling, vocation, or employment.”

Every single definition of Professional is positive and brings up images of honesty, conviction, and dedication. Everything about a professional sounds so good we’d even want our children to become them.

What comes to mind when most people think of the word “salesperson”? Pushy, manipulative, tricky, money-hungry, flashy, etc. Salespeople in our culture are people we are taught avoid, lie to, and try to get the best of. Even old Webster gets in on the action. There are 7 definitions of “sell” in the dictionary. Only definition 5b is positive. All of the other ones are derogatory!

If everything about salespeople is so negative in American society, why do you want to be a salesperson? How can you make a great living, feel good about yourself, and love your life if people are always trying to avoid you?

Change the way you think about yourself as you go about your work this month. Don’t think about the sale or the close or the money. Think about the client and how you can make sure he is getting something that will help him reach his goals. When you can do that, you will the Professional you capable of being and the money will flow like it never has before!

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