If you Want to Survive in Sales...
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The world of sales is one of ups and downs. Some periods are filled with weeks and months of the Midas touch where deals fall from the sky and everything you put your hands on turns to gold. It’s also the world where times are filled with constant rejection and time spent crawling through sales-free deserts with no water, where closing deals seems as distant as your happy, carefree childhood.
The greatest difference between the flat out best salespeople in the game and the less-than-successful is their unnatural, inborn talent and ability to close any deal that moves or has a pulse. While you may or may not fit into that category, the good news is the second greatest difference is something you absolutely can control: your buoyancy.
When things are going great and you’re closing deals left and right, there’s little need to stay mentally afloat. The sheer excitement and momentum created during those times fills your sails and drives you forward.
However, your attitude while crawling through the desert is what sets apart the true warriors from the can’t-cut-its.
If you want to weather the storm and survive the low points, then picture yourself this: a basketball in a lake.
Imagine swimming out into a lake with a basketball, charged with the task of sinking that basketball. You won’t be able to. You can push it down, sit on it, try to keep it underwater, but you will not accomplish your task. When you shove it down under the water, it shoots back up. It’s slippery, patient, and relentless. The harder and deeper you push it down, the faster and more powerfully it comes back up. You can grab it and try to swim down and leave it below. Not only will its perseverance make swimming awkward and impossible, as soon as you let go it will race back to the top. It will not stay down.
You must be that basketball.
To my fellow champions of the awkward cold call: let no streak of rejection, unclosed deals, or desert crawling affect your buoyancy.
With every rejected call, lost deal, and harsh "no" that could otherwise shake your resolve, maintain the one thing you can control: staying up. Let the world tire from fruitlessly trying to sink you. Do not relent. Let no air out. Rise again to the top. Push back out of the water with patience and unending determination. Get back into the ring, back on the phone, and attack again with the confidence that you will not stay down. We will all continue to experience the highs and lows of sales, but to endure the deserts it’s up to you to harness the power to stay mentally afloat.
This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop (previously the #shiftyestribe). Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop