Top producing sales people understand that every sales win - just like every sales loss - is temporary. To stay on top they know they need to keep pushing themselves to get better, hone their skills, ask better questions, make more calls, reach out to more contacts, ask for more referrals, build stronger covenants, make more follow up calls, uncover more reasons for prospects to move forward, call higher and wider within the companies they serve, focus on their top prospects, proactively plan their week and their day, take a disciplined approach to following their weekly and daily plan, make one last call every night before going home, keep learning, focus on delivery, build relationships within their company, listen to books and self-improvement discs while they drive, and in general stay sharp and professional.The exact same advice applies to sales people who are struggling.
The difference between sales winners and sales losers is that sales winners do these things no matter where they stand on the leader board. It's how they're wired. They have the commitment to do whatever it takes to be successful and they know that if they keep doing the right things, day after day, week after week, month after month......the results will follow.
Sales losers, on the other hand, rest on their laurels. They believe they are brilliant when they land the big account or sign the huge project....and they stop doing the right daily behaviors and lose focus while taking their victory lap. And when the results are bad? It's not their fault....it's the economy, the competition, the company, the product, the marketing materials...... anything but themselves. They get down on themselves and everyone around them. They spend more time focused on how unfair everything is and how difficult their job is and how things would be different if other things changed (not them).
Everyone in sales understands there will be ups and downs. The difference with sales winners is when you look at their calendar and observe how they conduct themselves day-to-day, you can't tell whether their numbers are up or down because they're consistently doing the same things. They know it's up to them and no one else. What can you do, starting today, to get on this path?