3. Why do most motivation programs fail?
Do you have a good education? Do you know more about your products than anybody? Have you read every book you can find on selling? Do you listen to motivational tapes while driving? Do you read all the trade journals? Do you attend seminars and take pages of notes? Do you ask successful sales people for advice?
If you do -IT DOESN'T MATTER! That's right! You may be fooling yourself and maybe some of your colleagues into thinking you are really going places. But it doesn't really matter. I am going to tell you to do something that is going to shock your system.
Take all of your diplomas and throw them in the trash! Take all your motivational tapes and burn them! Take your library of selling books to the dump! Take your list of big impressive goals and tear it up! Why would I make a statement like that?
Why would I give you that kind of advice? Because I am trying to help you. I want you to be more successful. You see, in sales, none of those things really make much difference. Here is what I mean. Read this next paragraph carefully.
...You can have a great amount of knowledge ...read all types of positive thinking books ...listen to motivation and self help tapes ...write down big impressive goals and plans ...and be no farther ahead than a year ago ...unless you apply what you know!
UNLESS YOU APPLY WHAT YOU KNOW! Once you start to DO the things necessary for success you will find that you have what it takes. You will never know where you need to improve until you put yourself in front of the buyer and let him or her tell you the reasons they are not going to buy. You will then have experience. You will then have specific information to work on. You will then be able to put together a plan of attack based on actual feedback.
Take it from someone who does all those things. And it doesn't make me an additional dime. Unless, I take one specific skill or strategy at a time and APPLY IT!
Knowledge is not the answer. The answer is... APPLICATION of specific knowledge. APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF SELLING. If you read something that you remember reading in the past, ask yourself this: Did I apply it -or did I just read it? The reason most motivation programs fail is because there is no action – no application.
Comments:
I couldn’t agree more. I have read books and attended seminars. I have been “pumped up” by motivators and been paid hard cash money for “correct answers.” At the end of the day I was mostly confused and worn out. More importantly I doubted how I had approached customers and applied the techniques of selling in my own style. This only led to several days of frustration trying out these new magic selling strategies. Today I ask myself before and after every call if what I did or could do worked the best and if I was prepared for the sales call. Most importantly I don’t follow someone else’s script.
Dave Ferren
Smothering yourself with books, motivational tapes, and tons of training material is only putting off the inevitable…. Facing the Customer. It is an excuse not to go out into the real world. It’s like being in college in this controlled atmosphere… it makes it look easy, but until you are right in the middle of it you will not learn half as much or grow near as fast.
Liz Vaughan
It is critical to convert sales knowledge into your own style where you will be comfortable and natural in front of a customer. Customers are quick to pick up on and are turned off by a “canned” delivery or a delivery that does not match your personality. Some sales people are very effective with a hard, fast approach while others do very well with a more laid back tone. Trying to be something you are not usually does not work.
Crocker Smith
I agree you need to apply what you know. I compare it to: If you are serious about dieting or exercising to lose weight, it doesn’t do any good to read all about it while sitting on the couch in front of the TV eating chocolate. It’s easy to say what you are going to do but it can be difficult when it’s time to apply it to what ever the situation is.
Vickie Reihl
If you do not apply what you read and learn, then you might as well find a job where you clock in and clock out. In college, they called it “Toilet Brains” which is: don’t study hard for a test and then just “flush” it all when you finish the test. Carry the knowledge with you.
Trip English
I think that motivational programs are great in the aspect that they do plant the seed for you to do better - to achieve that next sale and to make you feel like you just won the lottery. But without applying what you have learned would be the same as taking driving lessons, and listening to your instructor teach you how to drive, but not applying what they have taught you ... you'd end up another statistic that crashes the car. It's really common sense to apply what you learn, but sometimes you lose sight of that with every day life.
Jo Welch
Applying what you know, in this segment, is methodology. Understand the selling principles, and apply them. Doing this regularly will allow it to become natural, and a non-task. Without applying the knowledge/principles of selling, there is no point of knowing them. We all know that we CAN lose weight. Many of us CAN resist that bag of chips, or the second helping - but DO we? Application is a method of ensuring we follow through. We know to keep opening account margin's up, but we are sometimes quick to drop the margin right away. In 'gross profit poker', this is tantamount to a fold.
Craig Young
If you have a sales degree, and think you are the greatest sales-person to ever walk the face of the earth, but you don't apply anything you have learned, you will soon realize that maybe you aren't all that great after-all.
Laura J. Czajka
Motivational programs are like diets. You see people who look great and you want to look great too. However, they had to take action… eat right and exercise to achieve their goal. Sales books and Motivational programs only provide outlines or ideas for the person listening to or reading them to follow. A book has never made a sale.
Kathie Luttrell
"Once you start to DO the things necessary for success you will find that you have what it takes. You will then have experience. You will then have specific information to work on."