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Is High Energy Enough in Business and Sales?

By Gregory Ferrett

Welcome to Monday

I was breaking up some concrete over the weekend. I was enthusiastic and very positive about the job for ten minutes or so and stopped for a moment. I looked at the whole job and realised how much work it really was.

Desert Crash Scene
Desert Crash Scene

A discussion I had with a concrete worker came to mind. He had said “To make the job easier just focus on the point you want to hit and allow the weight of the hammer do the work.” In that moment I re-evaluated the job. I saw what needed to be done, set some goals and started to systematically follow a pattern. This time, instead of attacking with enthusiasm I allowed the weight of the hammer to do the job and focussed on hitting the right point. The job was completed with a lot less energy, less time and my back thanked me for it.

There was a picture in the ‘The Age’ newspaper a few years ago of a crash in the middle of the Nullarbor dessert. The police were quoted as saying “We don’t understand how this happened. The driver has smashed head on into the only tree for over 40 kilometres.”  They were observing the same rule I used in breaking up the concrete, the rule of focus.

What you focus on is what you get – the rule of focus

As a business and sales coach I regularly get called to crash scenes. A sales person is faltering or a business failing where it has been smooth sailing for a long time. I am rarely surprised, however, as these crashes occur invariably for one reason. The rule of focus has been violated and the business owner or sales person has allowed their mind to wander from their customers goals to their own.

A lot of research has been done on what makes a person successful. What has been discovered is a successful person absolutely believes they have the ability to succeed. They will not entertain, think about, or talk about the possibilities that they’ll fail. They do not even consider the possibility of failure.

This ‘feeling good and positive about you’ will help. To make a sale, however, it does not matter how good you feel or how positive you are. What matters is how good your customer feels and how positive they feel.

Why does your customer buy?

Your customer will only make a buying decision when their emotional needs are met and they can ‘see’ the product or service you offer working in their world and delivering value to them. When they are totally convinced you have the ability to deliver what they ‘see’ then they buy.

Focus on your client

Successful business people and salespeople are the ones who take the time to understand their customers, know their goals and ‘hit’ their client’s goals time and time again. They help their clients:

  • ‘See’ how things could be
  • Become enthusiastic about getting the results
  • Believe they can deliver the result for them.

Moving from being good to being great

One of the things that make great salespeople stand out from the crowd is that they are not considered salespeople at all. They are regarded by their clients as consultants or a similar title. The moment a person is tagged by their customer with the label ‘salesperson’ it means they focused on something other than their client. When you are with your clients you are there to help them achieve their goals. Talk to them about:

  • their bonus plan,
  • their holiday,
  • their promotion.

These are the things that engage them emotionally and drive sales. So, is high energy important is business and sales? Yes, but not as important as focus. High energy will give you a result. High energy with focus will give you an extraordinary result.

Today’s question and Actions

Here are two things you can do to help you focus:

  • Call up your top customers and ask them “What is it about my company that made you initially select us, or continue to deal with us?” The answers will tell you a lot about their perception of you and help you understand why others may buy from you.
  • Before you pick up the telephone to your next client or prospect ask yourself “How will this person be better off as a result of using my product or service?”

When talking with your clients put your commission plan away. Hide the holiday brochure and forget about the promotion this sale may bring. There is time for that at the end of the day.

Have a great week.

Greg

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