ANTIDEPRESSANTS

Ever have a bad day? Every have a bad week, month, year? Well I hope not a full bad year but we have all had a period that we can rate as BAD! The problem with having a period of time that is bad is it’s...well… depressing.

As sales reps we depend on our personality as much as we do our skills and knowledge to help us write business. When we allow the thoughts of depression start to seep into our minds our personalities start to change. Now I am not talking about long term radical personality changes, I am talking subtle changes that can take the edge off our ability.

Depression is a dangerous sales partner because you never know when it will chime in. You can be in the middle of a sale and everything seems to be going great then all of a sudden out of nowhere depression starts to creep in. It feels like a rope tightening around your chest, you feel like all is lost and all the energy and spark you have seems to disappear in a moment. Your customer sees it also, the gleam in your eye fades to a dull stare, the spark in your voice changes to a monotone drone, and your shoulders slouch.

Maybe I am being a little dramatic, but only a little! If you have been depressed you know how close I am to how you feel and what the customer sees. What do we need to do to fend off depression? Focus! We need to stay focused on the task at hand. We need to keep our minds on the sale and focus on the customer. If we are following our sales plan the mental distractions won’t have a chance to creep into our minds.

What did you just say? YOU DON’T HAVE A SALES PLAN? That’s a problem, but one that is easy to solve. Sales plans are everywhere. If you don’t have one go to your best friend GOOGLE. In about .00072 seconds you will have about 1,638,923 (it could vary) sales plans to choose from. They are not all good mind you, some are actually bad, very bad. When looking for a sales plan, a bad plan isn’t better than no plan. A bad plan can be worse than depression.

So how do you tell if a sales plan is good? Ask yourself a question. Does this plan enhance my current sales presentation? Will this plan help keep me on track?

A good sales plan is the best antidepressant I have ever seen. It is better than pills and better than a psychiatrist. Plus for an added bonus it will help your sales soar.

Lorin