A new day is dawning on my sales career, decided Danny. As he drove to work, basking in the afterglow of the outstanding sales training seminar he had attended the day before, he couldn't wait to start. He had made a decision to raise his personal productivity goals and had received several exciting ideas on how to achieve those new goals at the seminar.
The entire training seminar was on making new contacts. Danny was careful to remember it was no longer called "cold calling," it was now "making new contacts." He had underlined that spot in the training manual. "You have to have a new attitude," he said to himself. He was going to prove to himself, his boss, his family and his peers that he was no longer willing to accept mediocrity.
Sounds great, right? Except, what might happen to Danny today if he starts calling to "make new contacts," but gets the prospect's voicemail the first six or seven calls, and doesn't get any call–backs? Or what if he sits at his desk to start calling, and a co–worker asks him to take a look at a certain website or email, and before he knows it, forty–five minutes have passed? Or what if as he struggles to articulate his new script, he stumbles over it time after time because it is so new it feels awkward? It is difficult for people who have been doing something the same way for years to make major changes in the way they work, agreed? Why do you suppose that is the case?
We all get into our comfort zone when it comes to work habits, and experts will tell us that changing or expanding a comfortable routine can be one of the most difficult things to attempt to do. Outside influences, like co–workers or other distractions, can trigger a re–direction back to what we are used to doing. Or some kind of resistance or difficulty in getting desired results early on in our new behavior patterns can quickly get us longing for the old routine. If you need proof, think about that exercise regimen you might have tried to get started as a New Year's resolution, or that diet to which you were sure you could stick.
So how does Danny expand his comfort zone so that he can execute his new action plan and attain his goals? The answer is easy to say but harder to do, and only those who are truly committed to excellence in selling will pull it off. The secret is to commit to the behavior. In Danny's case, the behavior to which he needs to commit is to stick with the calls for at least a week, if not longer. He needs to shake off the endless voicemails and ignore the distracting co–workers. It is tough going. However, the reward is worth the effort. A popular definition of insanity is "doing the same things you always used to do, the way you always used to do them, and expecting different results." Given that, the only behavior that makes sense in order to achieve different results is to commit to new initiatives by actually executing them, over an extended period of time.
The best plans, the best goals, the best training, mean nothing unless you do something. Doing the behavior is the first step – don't skip it.
Al Simon is president of Simon, Inc., an authorized licensee of Sandler Training. He can be reached at www.SimonSaysSell.net.
