"The Status Quo Is Simply Unacceptable"

Brad Henry, Former Governor of Oklahoma

Settling... Contentment, creatures of comfort; it's out there within the closets of all those in sales. Lurking in the dark shadows of their successes, hiding where you least expect to find it is a great balancing act of excuses. It's the silent sales killer, lurking and striking sales reps without warning. It even brings the biggest and brightest to their knees. 

"Settling, better known as Complacency"

WORKING THE LAND 'HOPING' FOR A FERTILE SPRING

Don't think it can't happen to you? It strikes, every day. Settling, it's a ruthless disease. It cares not about how long you've been in sales, where you rank within your sales department, or what day of the week it is. It cares only of the weak and timid or the wait and see mentality, the hard reality behind all of this is while you've become content, another breed of sales professionals has been lurking inside your accounts. With extreme precision they're rewriting the playbook adapting to the changes inside the buyer's world.

"We plow our sales fields for growth within a digital business world yet sales reps fertilize their sales fields with analog sales tools, WHY?"

A selling from the heart sales professional has remodeled, retooled and re-engineered their sales business model cultivating it, making it better, rebranding it to resonate with today's modern business executive and KABOOM your clients have become their appetite for destruction. You've allowed them right into your sales jungle. Your client base has now become their paradise city where the grass is green and the sales revenue is pretty!

A SELLING FROM THE HEART PROFESSIONAL OUTCARES A SALES SETTLER

Giving a rip is the single best attribute a selling from the heart professional possesses. They care about their career, their sales growth and most of all, they care about their clients. They understand other sales reps may outsell them or outsmart them but no one will out care them.

A selling from the heart professional crushes the sales settlers' mindset. They're self-aware, genuine, authentic and comfortable in their own skin. They understand being themselves is what it's all about as opposed to being somebody they're not, a sales settler.

A heartfelt professional settles in to be of HELP; not a sales shark looking for another commission check reeking of commission breath.

“Offer to help without expecting anything in return as this will come back tenfold.”

These professionals are constantly looking inward to avoid being crushed by the sales settlers' syndrome.

WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF SALES SETTLERS SYNDROME?

DON'T INVEST IN THEMSELVES

When sales reps stop investing in themselves, it's a warning sign they've lost their drive to become a high performer. Equally concerning are the tenured sales reps who stop investing in themselves because they feel they've learned enough, earned the right to be taken care of or believe they know enough people (established client base) to get by; cruising through business life.

STOP THINKING

When sales reps stop asking questions, becoming curious about self-growth or challenging themselves, this is cause for concern. When they've mentally settled to just go with the flow, they've decided to stop thinking as their only concern is completing what they're only managed to do.

NOT MANAGING THEIR PERSONAL BRAND

I'll admit, most sales reps aren't managing their personal brand because they don’t know how, however; those professionals who are motivated to achieve greater success in their careers are aware of the importance and are making every effort to figure out their personal brand.

What do you wish for people to associate with you when they think of your name? 

NO SENSE OF URGENCY

Playing the waiting game. Waiting for customers to call them or a little birdie to drop a lead on their desk. Lack of urgency in developing business is a sales killer. No matter how successful your day, month or sales year has been you must act as if you're always climbing to get to the next level.

Proactive sales development must come by doing things to push one out of their comfort zone. One huge area involves prospecting for new business and not constantly relying on current accounts. Sales reps who fail have a hard time making calls on new prospects for one simple reason; they spend a majority of their time in the comfort zone of conversations with people who know them and not enough conversations with people who don't know them.

"Salespeople have hypnotized themselves into believing what they aren't doing doesn't work"

A selling from the heart professional lights the fire deep within their soul to prevent never being burned by the sales settlers' disease!

"We're operating on autopilot and it's killing our dreams and stunting our success"

Jim Keenan, Not Taught

The luxury of time no longer exists. Settling and complacency have become a rampant epidemic within sales world.

A SELLING FROM THE HEART PROFESSIONAL CREATES CHANGE

These heartfelt warriors never settle. They inspire themselves as they crush the settler's mindsight by creating change.

Acceptance of change is critical within the information age we live in. This applies directly to the sales settlers' mentality.

We have only three responses to change --- resist it, accept it or create it. A change resistor likes things just the way they are. A change acceptor will wait to see what is happening. While change creators have become today's problem solvers. 

These heartfelt change creators identify new processes, look for new opportunities, bringing new and different insights into businesses with the goal of helping executives solve business problems or challenges. They do this because they care!

Adopting a heartfelt change creator mentality will enable you to clearly focus on helping your clients and prospects for all the right reasons versus closing the "big deal" for your personal benefit.

"A sales professional who is heartfelt, fills out a suit with empathy, emotion and excitement."

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way!

I'm writing a book. The title is Selling From the Heart! I'm pouring my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it.Enter your email address here in this hyperlink and you'll be updated as the book is released. You'll also become part of our launch team. As a thank you, I'll have some special bonuses waiting for you! 

You can find more advanced training material inside the Social Sales Academy website.

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.