Martial Arts Professional Magazine

There are seven secrets, or principles, of sales success. The highest paid salespeople practice them every day. The regular application of these principles is virtually guaranteed to move you to the top of your field.

Secret #1: Be serious! Make a decision to go to the top of your field. Make a decision today to join the top 10%. There is no one and nothing that can hold you back from being the best, except yourself. Remember, it takes just as much time to be great as to be mediocre. The time will pass, anyway. Your job is to commit to excellence, to be better and better each day, and to never, never stop until you reach the summit.

Secret #2: Identify your weakest skill that limits your success, and make a plan to become absolutely excellent in that area. Ask yourself, and your boss, “What one skill, if I developed and did it consistently in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my sales?” Write the answer on a piece of paper, set a deadline, make a plan and then work on it every day. This decision alone can change your life.

Secret #3: Surround yourself with positive, successful people. Associate with men and women whose lives are headed in the right direction. Avoid negative, critical and complaining people. They drag, tire, distract and discourage you, and lead you inevitably to underachievement and failure. Remember, you cannot fly with the eagles if you continue to scratch with the turkeys.

Secret #4: Take excellent care of your physical health. You need high levels of energy to sell effectively, and to bounce back from continual rejection and discouragement. Be sure to eat the right foods, exercise appropriately and regularly, rest sufficiently and participate in recreation and other activities to revitalize your mind, body and spirit. Make a decision that you will live to be 80 years old or older, and begin today to do whatever you must to achieve that goal.

Secret #5: Visualize yourself as one of the top people in your field. Imagine yourself performing at your best, throughout every day. Feed your subconscious mind with vivid, exciting and emotionalized pictures of yourself as positive, confident, competent and completely in control of every part of your life. These clear mental pictures pre-program you and motivate you to sell at your best in any situation.

Secret #6: Practice positive self-talk, continually. Control your inner dialogue. Talk to yourself the way you want to be, rather than the way you might be today. For example, repeat to yourself these powerful words, again and again: “I like myself! I’m the best! I can do it! I love my work!” Tell yourself, “I feel happy! I feel healthy! I feel terrific!”

Remember, fully 95% of your emotions are determined by the way you talk to yourself, most of the time. The way you feel determines how you behave; and how you behave determines how much you sell.

Your job is to put yourself on an upward spiral, thinking and talking to yourself positively, throughout the day. You think, walk, talk and act like the very best people in your field. When you do, your success becomes inevitable.

Secret #7: Take positive action toward your goals, every day. Be proactive rather than reactive. Grab the bull by the horns. If you are not happy with your income, then go where your customers are and meet them face-to-face. If you are not happy with any part of your life, then accept responsibility and take charge.

All successful salespeople are intensely action-oriented. They have a sense of urgency. They develop a bias for action. They do it now! They have a compulsion to closure. They maintain a fast tempo and move quickly in everything they do.

The good news is that the faster you move, the more energy you have. The faster you move, the more ground you cover. The faster you move, the more people you see. The more people you see, the more experience you gain. The more experience you gain, the more sales you make. The more people you see and the more sales you make, the more your self-esteem and self-respect increases, and the more you will feel like great about yourself. You will have more energy. You will be happier and more positive.

The faster you move, the more you take complete control of your entire life, and virtually guarantee that you will be one of the top performers and the highest paid people in your field.

Salespeople are among the most important people in America. Every company’s survival depends on the success of its salespeople. High sales are the number one reason that companies succeed. Low sales are the number one reason that companies fail; and you can be in the driver’s seat.