Do What is Difficult

Today I'm posting some short excerpts from my new Book - Stop Selling Start Believing
https://a.co/d/4qyylyw

Rise to the Level of Greatness

To achieve greatness, you need to learn to not just endure the things that you don't like, but do them without hesitation and embrace the suck until you are stronger and more consistent. Trust me, 90 percent of the competition won't dive in head first with a great attitude here and this is your edge.

Willingness to do the hard parts over and over again until they become easy separates the top 10 percent from the bottom 90 percent in almost every industry

The margin of victory in sales is much like it is in sports. You win or you lose, and the margin of victory only matters if you lost. The margin is what you need to improve. The infinitesimally small flaw in your process that you need to polish until it's perfect. Only by doing this will you become the version of yourself that you are capable of becoming, instead of the version that you will settle for.

A lot of the work that is going to make you a great salesperson goes on when you aren't making a call, when you aren't in front of a client. Aren't even on the clock. Greatness is earned when nobody is watching, and you are taking a run in the morning before anyone else is awake, while listening to your last five phone call recordings to learn what you can do to cut off that next tenth of a second

Your job is to find the humor in that call. And quickly move on to your next one to find the audience member who can't wait to hear what you have to say.

In some industries, you're going to deal with 100 percent cold calls and your job is to pound the phones, bang your head against the wall, and then take the pain and abuse and find the needles in a very unfriendly haystack

If you want to rise to the level of greatness as a salesperson, you need to embrace a lot of unpleasant preparation and work that needs to be done.

There is almost always paperwork, compliance issues, quotas to be met, and phone calls to make. The top people track their metrics, get coaching, record themselves, poll their customers to find out why they lost a sale, tag along with other salespeople just to learn

Hey, if you like, love, or hate my videos, don't forget to hit share, like, or subscribe. And if you're interested in getting the book, it is available pretty much everywhere the books are sold. Half off now until January 1st. 📍 It's only 4. 99. It goes up to 9. 95 on January 1st.

https://a.co/d/4qyylyw

Episode Transcript

John (00:00):
rise to the level of greatness.

(00:01):
The quarterback doesn't wake upone day and win a playoff game
on talent alone.
LeBron, Kobe, and MJ weren'tjust great talents, but great
students of the game, there arehundreds or even thousands of
people with the same physicalgifts as them, but only a few
are ever disciplined enough toput in the hard work and make
their physical gifts reach theirtrue potential.
If you want to rise to the levelof greatness as a salesperson,

(00:22):
you need to embrace a lot ofunpleasant preparation and work
that needs to be done.
There is almost alwayspaperwork, compliance issues,
quotas to be met, and phonecalls to make.
The top people track theirmetrics, get coaching, record
themselves, poll their customersto find out why they lost a
sale, tag along with othersalespeople just to learn.
A lot of the work that is goingto make you a great salesperson

(00:44):
goes on when you aren't making acall, when you aren't in front
of a client.
Aren't even on the clock.
Greatness is earned when nobodyis watching, and you are taking
a run in the morning beforeanyone else is awake, while
listening to your last fivephone call recordings to learn
what you can do to cut off thatnext tenth of a second.
The margin of victory in salesis much like it is in sports.
You win or you lose, and themargin of victory only matters

(01:07):
if you lost.
The margin is what you need toimprove.
The infinitesimally small flawin your process that you need to
polish until it's perfect.
Only by doing this will youbecome the version of yourself
that you are capable ofbecoming, instead of the version
that you will settle for.
A lot of salespeople were drawninto the industry specifically
because we don't like details.
We hate paperwork and we want tohave freedom and flexibility

(01:28):
while still making the kind ofmoney that makes our accountant
and engineering friends greenwith envy.
However, part of almost everysales job includes a lot of very
emotionally draining andunpleasant parts that hold many
of us back from ever reachingour potential.
Many times have you taken asales job confident that you
were going to be the number onetop dog in the company?
Heck, number one in theindustry.
You come in chomping at the bitand get in front of a customer

(01:48):
and show everyone what a realsalesperson can do.
These amateurs you work with,they are not going to know what
hit them when they see yournumbers.
Product knowledge, who needs it?
Work overtime to get used to newproducts, industry challenges,
etc.
No time for that.
And then when you get in frontof a customer and close your
first deal, back to the trenchesyou strut.
Purchase order in hand only foryour sales manager to say you
messed up and left money on thetable.

(02:08):
Or worse.
You don't follow up that earlysuccess with any consistency,
and now you're soon findingyourself in the middle of the
pack, pushing harder, moredesperate with your clients on
every single call, and then thatsuccess that you were so
confident in is pulling fartherand farther away from your
grasp.
This is because you neglectedthe unpleasant hard stuff to go
for the glory.
What kind of hard stuff are youavoiding?

(02:29):
To achieve greatness, you needto learn to not just endure the
things that you don't like, butdo them without hesitation and
embrace the suck until you arestronger and more consistent.
Trust me, 90 percent of thecompetition won't dive in head
first with a great attitude hereand this is your edge.
Willingness to do the hard partsover and over again until they
become easy separates the top 10percent from the bottom 90

(02:51):
percent in almost everyindustry.
Taking the suck out of phonecalls.
One of the most commoncomplaints salespeople in all
industries have, and one of themost common procrastinated tasks
that we all face, is making ortaking phone calls.
How many days have you gone tothe office with a fantastic
attitude, ready to conquer theentire world with your wit and
charm, knowing that today is theday that you will make some
serious bank, only to find outthat your phone is suddenly

(03:13):
heavier than Thor's hammer?
You try everything to pick itup, a crane, a forklift,
browsing Reddit, Facebook, andGoogle News.
Look for answers in your emailand investigate some new
marketing methods that let youavoid making outbound calls
altogether.
Meanwhile, the phone hasn'tmoved, and even though it's not
scientifically possible, it hasactually gained mass.
The weight has increased fromimpossible to pick up to what

(03:33):
the heck is wrong with me.
And why can't I just pick up thedamn phone and make one call?
I hate myself and I can'tbelieve I did this again,
pounds.
And the curious thing is whyyour work phone is heavier.
Then, the core of a neutronstar, your cell phone is as
light as a feather unless you'reusing it to make calls, and then
it's only usable for things likeFacebook and catching up with
the latest TikTok trends.

(03:54):
But as soon as you switch to thephone app, the mass instantly
increases to infinity poundstimes ten, and the green call
button stops working, and atthis point you realize it's
lunchtime and resolve to dobetter this afternoon.
Why do we hate making calls somuch when our entire livelihood
is literally dependent uponthem?
As a wise old man once said,because it be like that
sometimes.
Now the key to overcoming phonereluctance is to basically man

(04:17):
the F up and make your firstphone call as quickly as
possible on your first availablecalling block in the morning.
The key is do not procrastinate.
Make that first call before youhave a chance to psych yourself
out and hold yourselfaccountable.
In my outbound cold callingcareer, I always found it best
to schedule time that wasdedicated to cold calling.
In business to business sales, Istarted promptly at 8 a.
m.
and would not let myself stop nomatter how badly or how great it

(04:39):
was going until I had ascheduled break.
Also, by scheduling my mosthated task first thing in the
morning, everything else afterthat seemed easy, like running
downhill with the wind at yourback.
For many of us, simplyscheduling the time doesn't mean
we'll actually do it on thatschedule.
And this is where a combinationof creating tracking systems, a
reward system, and anaccountability system comes into
play.
Another thing that helps to takethe pain out of calls is simply

(05:01):
understanding that once you'rein the middle of a call, you're
usually at your happiest.
Salespeople love to talk.
And we love to talk to people.
We love to close deals.
The phone is our stage and thetool of our trade.
And the only way to connect toyour audience is to pick up the
damn phone and connect to youraudience.
They're out there waiting totalk to you.
Why are you keeping themwaiting?
What?
Your customers aren't happy tohear you call?

(05:23):
You're the 37th car salesman,recruiter, realtor they call
that they've had today?
And they're not happy?
And you should go what yourself?
And what?
And huh, too?
Wow, that didn't go exactly asI'd planned.
Well, the thing to remember isthe greatest actor in the world
had a critic, and the greatestcomedian a heckler.
And the top rated movie of alltime had at least some people

(05:43):
who just freaking hated it.
Your job is to find the humor inthat call.
And quickly move on to your nextone to find the audience member
who can't wait to hear what youhave to say.
In some industries, you're goingto deal with 100 percent cold
calls and your job is to poundthe phones, bang your head
against the wall, and then takethe pain and abuse and find the
needles in a very unfriendlyhaystack.
In others, such as inbound callcenters, you're going to be

(06:05):
flooded with inbound callsbecause your employer spends
insane amounts of money onmarketing and lead partnerships,
and your biggest challenge isjust keeping up with the sheer
never ending volume of peoplewho are waiting for their turn
to talk to you.
Both of these situations havetheir ups and their downs, and
if you're in a position to turnthe outbound cold calling into
more of a hybrid situation bydoing marketing, purchasing
leads, or hiring an ISA to dothe cold calling and transfer

(06:27):
only the interested leads overto you, It's going to make your
job a lot easier.
Cold calls are difficult.
Warm calls are difficult.
But a highly targeted, motivatedcustomer is the most fun you're
going to have all day.
Put in the work or effort andinvestment to find them and do
it with consistency and you'regoing to find the phone will
become your best friend.

Mixcast 4-6 (06:44):
Hey, if you like, love, or hate my videos, don't
forget to hit share, like, orsubscribe.
And if you're interested ingetting the book, it is
available pretty much everywherethe books are sold.
Half off now until January 1st.
It's only 4.
99.
It goes up to 9.
95 on January 1st.
see you in the next video, guys.