Sales reps all over the world know what it is like to get an earful. I actually look forward to getting an earful first thing in the morning and the last thing in the evening.
Oh, I think we are talking about two different types of earfuls. When most reps hear the term earful they immediately think of being “BLASTED” by the customer for something they did wrong or something that went wrong. The earful I am talking about is healthy, motivational, and helpful. I know it will be good for me because I select it. My earful is listening to motivational or self help tapes or CD’s.
There are so many reasons to start your day out on a high note. The most important reason to me is if you start out on a high note, if you are in a good mood, if you are motivated and happy you will be able to overlook and get past so much of the negatives that we encounter everyday in the sales field.
Let me try and make an analogy for you to explain my reasoning. Picture in your mind a brick wall. You are on one side of the wall and an entire days worth of negatives and objections are on the other side of the wall.
Every time one of the negatives or objections runs towards the wall and hits it one brick is blasted apart. The good news is none of the negatives or objections can get to you until every brick in your wall is gone. Here is the catch, you can’t replace any of the bricks during the day, the only time you can replace your bricks is before work and after work.
How do you suppose you replace bricks? You got it, by reinforcing your attitude and knowledge reading or listening to motivational or self help material. By starting each day and ending each day with some good healthy INPUT you will always keep your wall strong and keep the usual negatives and objections from getting to you in the field.
To some reps it sounds like a lot of effort to take 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening to read or listen to some motivational material. However if you think about what happens when your last brick is blasted away and the feeling you get when each negative statement and every objection becomes a stumbling block the time becomes a small price for the strength you get from reading or listening.
I have been with reps (and I do this myself) who listen to motivational CD’s and tapes all day long in their cars while they drive around, or inside sales reps who listen in their office or cube. I have even been in an office where they played nothing but motivational material over the PA system all day for the employees. This is GREAT, however, it doesn’t replace your bricks. Why you ask (I can hear you asking) because when you are driving or in the office you are not concentrating on what you are listening to. You can’t help hearing it but you are not listening to it.
Your bricks can only be replaced when you are paying 100% attention to the material and able to absorb its meaning and put the information into your arsenal for use in the field.
15 minutes twice a day, less time than most of us spend watching TV. It isn’t a lot of time, it isn’t difficult to FIND the time, it isn’t hard to MAKE the time, but it is hard to TAKE the time out of our day.
So here is a challenge for everyone reading this post, for the next 21 days start and end each day getting an earful. Weekdays and weekends alike, 21 days in a row TAKE the time to read or listen to something positive for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening. If during the 21 days you don’t see a change in your attitude, if you don’t see yourself becoming more positive, if you don’t feel that you can handle negatives and objections better then you should go back to doing whatever it is you are doing now with the 30 minutes.
I hope to hear from many of you in 21 days telling me about your changes and how they have helped.
Lorin
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