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How are sales like jumpstarting your car

Written by: Clayton Shold

Article Overview: If you want to jump-start your sales performance - connect to the positive terminal.

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How are sales like jumpstarting your car

I hope it has been some time since you last had a dead battery. It's not a lot of fun, especially if it is pouring rain and you don't have a set of jumper cables.

Most people know a battery has a positive and a negative terminal. When jump-starting a car it is very important to know which is which. If you don't connect the negative terminal on one battery to the negative on the other, and then do the same with the positive connections, one can do serious damage to the battery and alternator.

So what does this have to do with sales? Well if you think about it, those in sales have a negative and a positive. Instead of terminals, we call it attitude.

Unlike a car battery, everyone knows the difference between a positive attitude and a negative attitude ... or do they? You would think this question is a no-brainer. A recent encounter caused me to wonder how evident this fact is.

It is no secret to many in sales that those who maintain a positive mindset towards their daily tasks, their prospects and their clients will out perform those at the other end of the spectrum.

Have you ever come across someone who didn't realize they have a negative attitude? I encountered someone recently that if you looked up the word negative in the dictionary you would have found a picture of this person. Envision a person firmly closed to new ideas or different ways of thinking. He was sceptical about the impact of mindset on actions and behaviors. He believes established processes are more critical than creatively thinking through a solution. He was openly argumentative with his peers, challenged his manager, and discounted others results. His only defence, "I’ve always done it this way." He was fortunate in having established a sizable block of business contacts over the years; which helped him produce above the required corporate quota.

I was left to wonder what his true potential could be if were to flip the dial from negative to positive.

Those familiar with the pioneering work of psychologist Dr. Henry Murray will know he was one of the first to postulate a direct, observable link between thinking and behavior. In the 1960s and 70s, a Harvard professor, Dr. David McClelland extensively studied achievement motivation and concluded that successful individuals have a significantly stronger drive or motivation to succeed than do average or below average individuals. Building on these works, the late Dr. Clayton Lafferty noted that successful sales people were likely to engage in constructive thinking, while unsuccessful sales people were prone to think in counter-productive ways.

Top sales people learn to be effective thinkers. That is, they consciously maintain a positive mindset; they focus on the sale and have established an inner drive to succeed. They combine their strong relationship skills with a strong belief in their clients. If you want to see what they look like, look up the word success in the dictionary!

If you want to jump-start your sales performance - connect to the positive terminal.

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Home > Sales > Clayton Shold > How are sales like jumpstarting your car
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About the Author: Clayton Shold
RSS for Clayton's articles - Visit Clayton's website

Clayton has 25 plus years of sales and marketing experience mainly in Canada and some in the United States. He led a successful national sales team. He's lead two training departments with large sales organizations. Clayton operated two small businesses. He doesn't consider himself a sales expert as he is continually learning about the sales profession. He understands the demands placed on salespeople today. Clayton is passionate about performance excellence, and big on sales and service delivery, that’s what it’s all about. Without these two elements companies don’t make money. Perhaps his biggest ah ha in sales has been the importance of keeping a positive mindset. He runs 5 km every other day, is a passionate but only mediocre golfer, and a lover of dogs. Clayton lives with my wife in Oakville Ontario. You can reach him by emailing clayton AT Salesopedia.com

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More from Clayton Shold
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Sales Training and the Way You Think
Puppy Training for Salespeople


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