subject: Unlocking The Onions Potential [print this page] As a consultant and sales trainer, my objective is to bring about affirmative change in organizations, managers and sales people. My content has always been about sales in one way or another, but my actual work has always been to create change. Creating change has been a focus of my studies for at least thirty years. Throughout that time, I have assembled a set of principles and practices that I use to bring about change in my clients.
As a serious professional, you share the need to improve and grow continually and to enhance your performance. Further, as a human being, you want to develop more completely. You should be continuously asking yourself "How can I change and improve myself so I can impact my workplace and improve my lifestyle?"
We're not interested in the superficial answers, only in exploring the more in depth, let's call them spiritual, answers. We have layers and layers of complexity and substance to us. First are our interactions with other people - our customers and prospects. These interactions are often shaped and directed by the sales tactics weve learned along the way. This is the person that our customers see. You may ask a customer a series of good questions. That series of questions is a tactic - the very surface of who you are. Over a period of time, if you develop that practice of asking questions effectively, you've created a skill. Notice that is a slightly deeper issue. Good for you. That's important, however, in the bigger picture of everything that you are, it's your most superficial component.
Going deeper to the next level we the strategies we design, the goals we set, the habits we have built up over the years, and the ways in which we operate just beneath the surface. Let's say you ask your customer good questions. That's a tactic on the very surface of your being. It's where you interact with someone else. The reason you ask questions, the motivating force that underlies your use of that tactic can be one of a number of things. Maybe it comes from a strategy you developed to learn more about your customer. The strategy was the deeper motivation that gave rise to the more superficial method.
Maybe you have developed a goal to ask four questions during the course of the day. In that case, the goal was the deeper motivation. Peel off that outer layer, and we'll find, at the next level, our attitudes. We've heard many times about the importance of a good attitude. That's because your goals and habits rise from your attitudes.
Being burdened with a depressed, pessimistic attitude will inhibit you from setting meaningful goals or seeking great accomplishments. The opposite is also true. When you have optimistic, positive attitudes, you naturally seek challenging goals, and that leads to positive energy and behavior. A positive attitude will lead you to creating goals and developing the strategies that you'll need to achieve any objective. If your attitude is positive, you'll feel like you can positively influence any circumstance.
