Your Attitude And Activity Will Make 2016 What You Believe It Will Be

Statistics are an amazing thing-they show you what you want them to.

2016 promises to be exactly the type of year you believe it will be!

And the operative word here is believe. 2016 will have two kinds of sales people. Those that believe that 2016 will be bigger and better in spite of the economy, product, customer objections, service, price, processes, the competition or the weather. This group of salespeople knows that perfect conditions do not exist and the green grass over the fence won’t seem as green when they cross over. They not only know this, they believe it. And then there’s the second group of salespeople. This lot believes that they will struggle through 2016 just as they did in 2015, and 2014 and 2013 and…because of exactly the same reasons their counterparts will thrive.

Read: Don’t Berate Yourself –It Takes Practise To Bake Your Pitch To Perfection

The second kind

This second group believes their sales will improve when the price is lowered, their product or service matches the competition, the deliveries to distributors and all other processes operate with clockwork precision, and that 2016 remains sunny. And guess what?! Both groups are right. And they have the figures to prove it. Statistics are an amazing thing-they show you what you want them to.

The latter can show you their declining numbers from 2010 when they embraced this belief. “See,” they will explain, led by Shaka, “Every year the numbers have been going down because our prices have remained high and our product is inferior to the competition. You see this dip in Q4 2015? It was because of the El Nino rains-they interrupted our movements. And back office always delays to process payments (or create the website, or deliver the goods). These problems are the reasons for my declining numbers.” What about Ondati, Ndemo and Juma, how come their numbers are growing and you are in the same team? “Arrgh! They are given leads. Back office favours them. They have cars and do not rely on public transport”

Same script, different cast

Meantime Ndemo, how come your numbers are growing in spite of working in the same environment? “Well, first I changed my company and enlarged my vision. I used to hang out with Shaka and his group until I realized that their belief was rubbing onto me. When I asked to understudy Ondati he was eager to help and my world changed dramatically. I used to complain about customer objections as the reason for not selling. Until Ondati showed me that these are few and can be handled. He even taught me what to say when they arise. A whole new world opened up for me; just knowing how to handle this one thing saw the problems of product, price and processes simply fall away. I couldn’t believe it! All this time I was holding on to excuses not reasons. And as my sales started to increase I grew more positive, energetic, hopeful. I grew relationships with back office staff and when I request them for favours they grant them. Not all the time but often enough and always when they can. They even give me referrals which I’m sure to give them progress on. At one time I believed this job was impossible; now I believe it is the only job possible to experience this kind of personal growth. Look at these figures! I’ll soon be buying a car just as Juma and Ondati.”

Where do you belong?

The tragedy of 2016 is that some sales people will merely survive while others will spectacularly thrive. One group will struggle because of, and another will succeed in spite of, the same circumstances. Where do you want to be? There are only two things you can control to determine this: your belief (and therefore, your attitude) and your actions.

Take 100% responsibility of yourself. Every day, diligently work on these two things and I promise you 2016 will be exactly the type of year you believe it will be!


You may like: Is it the economy that needs fixing? Or is it you? Let’s find out.


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