I have often weighed in on the debate of what makes someone successful. I.E. What makes someone good at sales? What makes someone land their ideal job? What gives someone that little extra something needed to succeed? I’ve read all sorts of books on the subject, listened to several speakers, and absorbed a hearty portion of advice.
Here are three key factors that I have come to hold as absolutely necessary.
1) Confidence and Enthusiasm-
In your product. In your service. In yourself. If don’t have it, others (customers) can tell--No matter how hard you try to mask it with clever slogans or polished words.
In other words, if you are selling a product that you believe is high on price and low on value, one that your customer shouldn’t buy, then why would they?
If you don’t have confidence and enthusiasm, you might still see some success, but you won’t last. You can’t last. Why would you want to last? You must love your product (ser
vice, self etc.). Study it. Know it. Use it.
2) Mental toughness-
This one gets all sorts of different names. Iron will, determination, tenacity…etc. etc.
I call it: Riding the Wave. Despite the fun sounding surfer reference, riding the wave is actually a very hard and dangerous thing to do.
Picture in your mind a wave with peaks and valleys. This horizon created by the wave in your imagination is like a timeline of life. We have ups, we have downs. People tell us YES, and people tell us NO. We make the sale, we loose the sale. We land a great job, we blow an interview. These things are realities. Obviously, losing a sale is not as exciting as closing a great deal, but we do have the capability to decrease the distance between the crests and the troughs. There are a lot of ways to do this, which just got my cogs churning for another blog post. Suffice it to say here that successful people stay above the wave. Their thoughts and emotions are independent of their environment. Their mind is not shaped by the daily ups and downs.
3) Hard Work
Yup. Sorry. Your dad/mom/uncle/grandma (whoa, weird visual…) was right. Its all about hard work. Hard work will trump talent—at least in the long run. In a boxing match, talent may take rounds 1 and 2. It might event take rounds 3, 4 and 5, but in the end it will be hard work with the huge golden belt and million dollar contract at the MGM grand.
Remember this: It doesn’t matter how phenomenal you are as a sales person, it doesn’t matter how mind-blowing your presentations are if THERE IS NO ONE TO GIVE THEM TO. Sales, especially, is largely a numbers game. Although it is important to increase your efficiency, hard work is vital.
The same is true in other areas of life. I have seen countless, seemingly ordinary people out work those around them and rise to great heights. Go to your local Barnes and Noble and you will find hundreds of books telling such stories.
Final thought: Here is the great thing about these 3 keys: they apply to all areas of life. Try it. Stop and think about any area of your life and apply these principles. Rinse and repeat.
Here are three key factors that I have come to hold as absolutely necessary.
1) Confidence and Enthusiasm-
In your product. In your service. In yourself. If don’t have it, others (customers) can tell--No matter how hard you try to mask it with clever slogans or polished words.
In other words, if you are selling a product that you believe is high on price and low on value, one that your customer shouldn’t buy, then why would they?
If you don’t have confidence and enthusiasm, you might still see some success, but you won’t last. You can’t last. Why would you want to last? You must love your product (ser
vice, self etc.). Study it. Know it. Use it.2) Mental toughness-
This one gets all sorts of different names. Iron will, determination, tenacity…etc. etc.
I call it: Riding the Wave. Despite the fun sounding surfer reference, riding the wave is actually a very hard and dangerous thing to do.
Picture in your mind a wave with peaks and valleys. This horizon created by the wave in your imagination is like a timeline of life. We have ups, we have downs. People tell us YES, and people tell us NO. We make the sale, we loose the sale. We land a great job, we blow an interview. These things are realities. Obviously, losing a sale is not as exciting as closing a great deal, but we do have the capability to decrease the distance between the crests and the troughs. There are a lot of ways to do this, which just got my cogs churning for another blog post. Suffice it to say here that successful people stay above the wave. Their thoughts and emotions are independent of their environment. Their mind is not shaped by the daily ups and downs.
3) Hard Work
Yup. Sorry. Your dad/mom/uncle/grandma (whoa, weird visual…) was right. Its all about hard work. Hard work will trump talent—at least in the long run. In a boxing match, talent may take rounds 1 and 2. It might event take rounds 3, 4 and 5, but in the end it will be hard work with the huge golden belt and million dollar contract at the MGM grand.
Remember this: It doesn’t matter how phenomenal you are as a sales person, it doesn’t matter how mind-blowing your presentations are if THERE IS NO ONE TO GIVE THEM TO. Sales, especially, is largely a numbers game. Although it is important to increase your efficiency, hard work is vital.
The same is true in other areas of life. I have seen countless, seemingly ordinary people out work those around them and rise to great heights. Go to your local Barnes and Noble and you will find hundreds of books telling such stories.
Final thought: Here is the great thing about these 3 keys: they apply to all areas of life. Try it. Stop and think about any area of your life and apply these principles. Rinse and repeat.
