Many of us, having worked with several sales teams, salespeople and sales courses, have seen two kinds of individuals throughout our careers. The first individual achieves major sales success in their career. The second individual, given the same opportunities, only achieves enough to go unnoticed. Why?
For starters, the difference between a distinction and passing lies in the effort, consistency and willingness of an individual to go beyond the requirements. In sales, passing simply means meeting quotas, making calls and showing up. The salesperson that aims for distinction goes the extra mile – researching clients, refining pitches, building long-term relationships and constantly improving their skills.
Individuals that aim to achieve distinctions are often driven by their ambition, curiosity and resilience – they treat challenges as new opportunities to grow in their career. These are the kinds of people who have clear goals in mind; being able to define why and how they want to achieve these goals. They tap into their potential by applying their efforts daily.
Tapping into our potential means using every tool and resource we can access, applying our skills and talents, and then utilising opportunities and sales courses to achieve the best possible result. It’s also about consistently striving for growth and excellence. For someone to start that process of realising their full potential, it usually begins with a crucial mindset shift from being satisfied with the average result to wanting more than ‘good enough’. This is typically sparked by some feeling of dissatisfaction with current circumstances, taking inspiration from other salespeople, or realising that time and resources are running out – a sudden need for urgent change.
What our sales courses teach us about ‘potential’ is that it disregards upbringing, education and material possessions. It solely relies on the drive and hunger to achieve greater success. This hunger, or the lack of it, is what holds a lot of salespeople back in their careers. Where there’s a will, there’s a way… this sums up the desire for more. Two salespeople can have the same level of skill, but the one with more will or desire is going to achieve more because they will find a means to achieve their goals. This will and desire, as you’ll learn with our sales courses, can only be found within the individual’s own mindset. If they don’t want more, they won’t achieve more.
Sure, this idea does inspire some amount of philosophy, but people are curious – some will eventually get tired of being in the comfort zone, while others never truly escape their comforts. How do we determine when we’ve had enough of mediocrity? The answer often lies within us.
As soon as we have that answer, when we start wanting more, that’s when individuals opt to take matters into their own hands and change their circumstances. The rewards won’t come immediately, and you’ll have to apply yourself daily for months or even years, but it’ll all be worth it. Like Mark Zuckerberg once said, “In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
So, in the end, the question really boils down to “When is ‘good enough’ not enough anymore?”. To some it’s a difficult question, one that needs some thought, but to others it may be just the question they’ve been waiting to answer. Once you have your answer, feel free to contact us.
