Attitude determines success

A Positive Attitude Determines Success

Sales depend more upon the attitude of the sales professional than that of the prospect. A good sales professional is never ashamed of his profession. In face, he is proud of his profession. The only thing he is ashamed of is non-performance.

There is a very commonly used story by many sales managers - two salesmen went to Africa, both went to sell shoes in different parts of the same country. They both saw villagers without shoes. One immediately sent a message back to his manager saying- "There is no market here. Nobody wears shoes and hence I am coming back". The other sent a message saying- "Get ready for big sales - there is a huge market here. Nobody wears shoes and we can make everyone wear them. Gear up production." The difference is the attitude.

 Vaccum Cleaner Salesman in a snowstorm

Winners turn a negative into a positive. Winners do it in spite of problems, not in absence of , and losers permanently rationalize and make excuses in life. Most people who call themselves salesmen are really order-takers and in face, are not even good order-takers. Some sales people harely make a living while there are some in the same profession who make a killing. How can a sales professional who sells identical products in the same market, for the same company, make 10, 20 or a 100 times more money than others?

While I was doing the demos of vacuum cleaners, where most sales people quit out of frustration because they couldn't make a sale,, there was one employee who was one of the top salespersons in the country. He narrated an incident where on one day alone he made 24 sales, something many sales people don't do even in a few months. One day, there was major snowstorm and there was close to 12 inches of snow. In Toronto, during the winter season there are a few days like this every year, Schools and offices are closed because it becomes too risky to go out in such weather. Most sales people look at this as great opportunity to stay at home and watch TV, but this person saw a great opportunity, for two reasons "

1. He realized that everyone would be at home that day. So, his chances of getting people through cold calls would be close to 100%.
2. Normally, vacuum cleaner demonstrations are in the evening or on weekends because if one person sees it they don't take a decision till they have consulted their spouse, and many times, it may just be an excuse, but chances of making the sales become higher. But that day both decision-makers would be there. If the client is serious then it would save him a second trip to give another demonstration. Hence, he saves time.

He also realizes that all his neighbors were prospects. They all had the same need. They were buying the same thing from somewhere else and he too was driving 10-30 miles away on apppoinments for demos. Why not sell in his own neighborhood?

He put on his snow snow shoes, clad himself well to walk in the snowstorm and carried his cacuum cleaner. He knocked on his neighbor's door and said "Hello, I am John your neighbor. It's a shame that we haven't met earlier. We help families like yours live in a good healthy environment. Would you mind if I came in and shared some ideas with you or gave youa short demonstration?"

9 out of 10 invited him in and since they were not doing much and were indoors anyway, they said go ahead. Then, he did his full demo without being rushed and since both partners were there, decision-making was easy.