Selling is hard.
Growing a business is hard.
Getting a college degree is hard.
Learning to ride a bike is hard.
So is learning how to hit a golf ball where you want it to go...
And raising kids to be decent human beings...
And being married...
And being single...
And making the spoon stay on your nose while juggling a tray of glasses filled with water that you can't spill during the relay race at the family reunion.
But anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you master the skill and do it right.
Yesterday I saw an image on the SEAL Of Honor Facebook page that said,
Amateurs train until they get it right. Professionals train until they cannot get it wrong."
The image above is that of a sales wimp that is calling everyone else a sales wimp as he drowns his sorrows and says, "Sales wimps follow up."
The truth is, sales pros really do follow up and do it correctly.
The bigger truth is Sales All-Stars have processes for their sales and marketing and automate or delegate everything they can so they can focus on what really matters, which is why they grow in both good and bad times and achieve the label "All Star."
That requires planning and thought and trial and error and rejection and setbacks, but the alternative is what?
- Working in a cubicle?
- Commuting every day until life is sucked out of you?
- Taking orders from someone you don't respect, trust, like, or admire?
- Filling out weekly expense reports and making sure you have the approval to knock off 30 minutes early to see your kid's school event?
Look.
I get it.
I've been up, and I've been down.
I've been on top of the world and lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut.
I've made money, and I've lost money, and I've been taken for money and cheated by partners who were supposed to be friends and lied to by prospects that PROMISED they were going to buy, and you know what?
It was all worth the struggle.
Because anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you get it right.
And I haven't always known exactly where I was going, but I at least knew the direction, and sometimes "Direction works better than goals." (Thanks, D.J. Paris, for that quote on episode 37 of The Sales Podcast.)
So put down your drink, dust yourself off, get back to your desk, and make another call,
make another offer,
ask for the sale,
ask for a meeting,
ask for the best time to call back or stop by to see the decision-maker,
make the sale, or at least find out why you won't make the sale...
then ask for a referral and start all over again.
Then jot down what you learned, grow from the experience, and do it better the next day.
Life is worth living, and it's worth living well.
The only way to do so is to live it on your own terms.
Maybe you're not there today, but being great in business, which means being great in marketing, which means being great in sales, is the surest way to get there with or without a degree, even if you don't know how to ride a bike or juggle or hit a golf ball, even if you're single or married.
So get after it.
To help you along the way, be sure to check out my interview with Jia Jiang, who filmed himself getting rejected 100 times.
Here's to a stronger you.
Can you do me two small favors?
If you liked what you read, please tell me so below. And if you have a question, please ask it below, and I'll do my best to answer it. (That's two parts of one favor.)
The second favor is, if you like what you read here and heard on the podcast, please tell a friend, share it on social media, and otherwise tell your world. (That's three parts of the second favor.)
Thank you. You rock.
Now go sell something someone needs.
