Tweet

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.

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.

Related Articles
  Best of the Janes: Getting Back on Track
  Jumpstart Your Business
  Why Follow a Sales Process?
  JumpStart Your Employee Motivation: Ten Secrets to Empower Your Team
  The simple truth to increasing sales; follow up, follow up, follow up!

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Never Neogtiate Price - I hate negotiating on price - like everyone else I'm sure. I'd rather find a part-time job to pay the bills than negotiate on price. When i did websites i made sure that I invested more time with the customer in the concept stage and in getting to know them a bit more. That investment in time in the early stages made them more comfortable to deal with me rather than another designer with cheaper prices because i gave them a sense of comfort that i knew exactly what they wanted and i would deliver. That comfort and trust i built was something you couldn't put a price on and it demonstrated higher value. I learnt this from a "Webdesign Business in a box" book I had purchased from Sitepoint. Aside from jumpstarting my Web business it also taught me some great interpersonal skills I still use today. Best investment I ever made.
How many sales people do you have working for you. - I love this forum since it has such a large variety of members. It would be great to have a better understanding of the sales function (if there is one) in your company. If you have a minute, vote in our poll and tell us about your sales department breakdown and sales efforts.
Review My: e-product sales letter - Hello Forum members! We have a lot of sales and direct marketing expertise in here so I thought I would ask for a review of my sales letter for my newly launched e-workbook on how to write a business plan. I'm working on a round of testimonials to include with the sales letter so I know that's a missing component. I wrote the sales letter myself and I tried to lay the benefits out as clearly as possible but I'm not a professional copywriter so I'm open to suggestions! Thank you in advance!
Re: Just got laid off, new user - Welcome! Sorry to hear about the lay off. Times are really tough right now for anyone who isn't extremely wealthy. If you want to be your own boss and are willing to try sales, I'd like to talk to you about a lucrative reseller position that you could start with just a car, a smile, and a phone. I know sales isn't for everyone, but if you're willing to give it an honest try, 2 -3 sales per month could be a very good income. Let me know. Otherwise, be creative with what you know you already have going for you and I know you'll figure out a way to be a great entrepreneur!
Re: Sales with no start up fees. - Hey Mary, Have you tried help wanted ads? There are a ton of IT & sales people out of work right now, if there is no cost to become a reseller, how about running an ad for a commission sales person that has sold advertising or software before? Set them up with a reseller website, some business cards, provide some training and get them to get your leads onto a webinar using gotomeeting or one like that? I have had success with this in other venues with sales, not software, but similar arena.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Do You Deserve To Be Happy and Successful?

Top 5 Tips for Better Online Ads

Reverse Mentoring

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.