It was a rough day, and I knew it was coming. My mind had been elsewhere, unfocused, and lacking connection to purpose. I had the skill, possessed the ability to get the job done, but day after day, my focus was elsewhere, and the clock was ticking.
“Andy, if you don’t turn it around, shortly, you can expect a performance improvement plan (PIP).” This was a warning from my manager, and a turning point in my career, part of what led me to the success I experience today.
I’ve experienced success in the past; I wouldn’t have held the position without it. However, for whatever reason, my mind wasn’t right, and consistency eluded me.
I didn’t have the right sales mindset.
Mindset plays a vital role in our success, both in life and in business. I believe our mindset to be the most critical element to our success. Without a proper mindset, nothing else will matter.
We won’t reach our goals without a proactive mindset;
We won’t advance our knowledge without a growth mindset;
We won’t have good relationships without a people-focused mindset;
We won’t differentiate ourselves without a creative mindset;
and we won’t grow our territories without an entrepreneurial mindset.
For some people, possessing these mindsets will come naturally. For others, obtaining these frames of mind will take hard work and further development.
At the time of this writing, I believe there to be ten core characteristics to a well-rounded, high-performance, sales mindset, which I’ll share in future posts.
The belief at the core of this philosophy is if we want success within our lives, work, relationships, faith, or passions, it all starts with mindset.
If we want to realize our dreams, to experience fulfillment and success, we must first start with an inside-out approach and nurture our core principles and beliefs.
This work begins to develop our mindset.
Realizing how important this was for me and knowing others to be struggling, wandering without purpose, and failing, I’d like to share a few ways we can begin the process of shaping our mindset towards high-performance sales.
Step #1 – Discover Our WHY.
I know this is mentioned to death, to the point of redundancy, and teeters on cliche, but it’s truth. And no, we don’t need to feel our purpose is to save the world, but we do have a purpose for getting out of bed each day. What is that? What currently drives you? or what should be driving you?
Is it to keep a roof over your head? raise a family? or to save for college? Whatever it is, think of the reason you’re getting yourself out of bed and focus on that.
For a more in-depth understanding of discovering your WHY, read Simon Sinek’s book, Start With WHY.
Step #2 – Begin With The End In Mind.
To understand this concept to it’s fullest, I recommend you read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey. In it’s simplest terms, for ourselves, we want to picture what the Desired End-Result is and align our behaviors to reach that result.
Ultimately we’ll want to picture the Desired End-Result for a life well-lived, imagining the life we had and our pride in the result. However, for the sake of getting into action, start small, and answer the question of what desired outcome you wish to achieve by year-end.
Step #3 – Create & Cement Our Mission.
Finally, we need a mission to inspire us each day. Take a pen and paper, write the WHY from Step #1, followed by the Desired End-Result from Step #2 and read what you’ve written three times a day; once when you wake, once at noon, and another before you sleep.
Doing so will engrain your purpose and become part of your subconscious. This is a practice made popular by OG Mandino, author of The Greatest Salesman in the World. Do this daily for at least 30 days, or until you feel that your WHY and Desired End-Result have become part of your mindset.
Beginning our holistic sales mindset for success.
There’s a lot of work to be done when it comes to developing a holistic sales mindset for success, a mindset that will drive success not only in sales but in life overall.
Our mindset is and always will be a work in progress, but we need to know where to start and how to work on developing a mindset that drives success and leads ourselves and those we serve to a better quality of life.
Wherever we are in our sales career, knowing our WHY, envisioning the Desired End-Result, and aligning our actions to those principles will begin to shape our Holistic Sales Mindset (HSM) for success.
I know it does for me.