subject: Sales Training with Master Sales Coach Steve Clark [print this page] Sales Training with Master Sales Coach Steve Clark
Is It Time To Quit Your Sales Job
Selling today is more difficult than it has been in many years. The current economic reality is making it more difficult to extract money from buyers. If you are like many salespeople, you find yourself working harder, putting in longer hours and having to see more prospects in order to get the same results you're getting just a few years ago.
Unfortunately, it does not appear that this current reality will change anytime soon. In my sales training and sales coaching, I am teaching my clients that if they are to succeed they must become upgrade their skills and become better at their chosen profession. Anything less will produce mediocre results which will eventually result in them leaving the profession - usually not by their choice.
Selling is the most difficult profession in the world and most every sales professional questions whether they are in the right profession when they are experiencing a slump.
In my sales training and sales coaching I have had numerous conversations with salespeople who are considering leaving the profession. If you are one of those salespeople who are considering questioning whether you're in the right profession there is an old Bulgarian proverb that says it best, "if you wish to drown don't torture yourself in shallow water". In other words, if something is going to die, kill it quickly perhaps it is time to throw in the towel and get on with your life. Maybe sales isn't your cup of tea.
Before you throw in the towel you need to realize that becoming a sales master takes a minimum of 2 to 5 years of intense sales training, study and practice. Anything less will not equip you with the skills that you need to become successful. If you have been in the selling profession five years or more and are your sales have stagnated and you are going backwards not forwards it may be time for you make a change in your profession.
Next time you are having one of those 3 AM heart-to-heart sessions with yourself wondering whether it's finally time to get out of the sales profession ask yourself these questions
1. Are you really devoted, committed and passionate about becoming a consummate sales professional or are you simply hanging on because you're afraid or unwilling to change?
Face it; most of us don't like making hard decisions because we are just plain afraid of change. We resist change and will not usually change until forced by external circumstances to do so. If you find yourself in the state of mental constipation take control of your life and make a once in for all decision to get in or to get out of the sales profession.
2. How have things been generally going? Are you simply in a slump or is this one failure in a long series of failures?
Are you excited and passionate about what you're doing or are you simply going through the motions hoping something will change? If things are stagnant and they've been stagnant for a long time is this really what you want for yourself? Have enough guts to ask yourself the hard questions and be honest with yourself about your answers.
3. Are you learning, improving and growing?
If you are not learning and growing or engaged in sales training that will help your improve your skills your future does indeed look bleak. If you aren't willing to invest time and money and energy participating in sales training that will help you improve your skills to become more competitive in this new economy you will be out of business. Quite frankly, if that's where you are you need to get out of the sales profession immediately because you will never be more than mediocre producer.
4. What is the cost of your current mental state?
Pessimism, depression and anxiety are time and energy thieves. If you weren't wasting this time and energy what could you be doing to move your life along?
5. How is your mental state of backing your family and friends?
What kind of emotional cost is this exacting on your loved ones? How much longer are can handle the stress? Are you willing to subject them to continued stress?
6. Get Real.
Take a good hard look in the mirror and ask yourself whether you have a truly reasonable chance of succeeding in the sales profession. Are you in the right industry? Are you working for the right company? Is the market place willing to embrace what it is you're trying to sell? If the answer to any of these questions is no, maybe it's time to make a tough choice, hard as it is, and get out and go do something else that you can be successful at.
7. Are you having fun?
Life is too short to engage in activities and relationships are not uplifting and inspiring. And as Tony Robbins says, "a life without passion is a life not worth living". Do you have passion or are you as Thoreau said, "living a life of quiet desperation"?
Think on these things and have the guts to make the hard choices to take control of your life. If you stick your head in the sand and refuse to make hard choices and take control of your life one day you will look back and regret that you did not do so. What a shame that would be.
