Sometimes we are so focused on sales process, skills development, coaching and metrics that we forget to remind ourselves and our teams to have some FUN.
Listen, I’m a sales guy. Maybe I am a bit biased, but I can’t think of a more rewarding profession. I’ve been doing this like, my whole life and it is my honor to continue to share my experiences with other sales professionals. One thing that is commonly overlooked is having fun. What happened to having fun?
Did someone hit the delete button on having fun while selling and forget to tell me? I can’t even imagine what my career path would have been without a solid balance of hard work, the wins, the failures I learned from and, most of all, the fun.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the complexity and the challenges everyone endures to build and sustain a successful sales career. Sometimes, I have to ask myself, “What exactly is so fun about it?”
Now let's not confuse fun with funny.
"What do you mean I'm funny?"
"It's funny, you know. it's a story, it's funny, you're a funny guy."
"What do you mean, you mean the way I talk? What?" "It's just, you know. you're just funny, it's...funny, you know the way you tell the story and everything."
"Funny how? What's funny about it? What did ya say? Funny how?"
"Just...ya know...you're funny."
"You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?"
- Henry Hill and Tommy DeVito, Goodfellas
Of course, the common denominator to fun is winning. Just to set the PC police straight, the hard truth is that you either win or you lose. That’s not to say you can’t learn something from not winning but it’s certainly not fun.
Having fun is a serious business!
Here are 4 reminders to position you to have fun and win:
Preparation
Properly prepare for your sales engagements. Above all, preparation is being thorough and aligning your solution with your customers’ needs and it is paramount to winning. It’s being “in the zone”: performing an activity, fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus and enjoyment in the sales process. That energy and enjoyment transfers directly to your customer and that’s the fun.
Personal Accountability
Accept personal accountability for your actions and results. Winning and having fun is 100% on you. Taking full responsibility for your approach and for your results is fundamental to positive customer engagements, winning and having fun.
Perseverance
Focus on personal development and creativity. Positioning yourself to be the “smartest person in the room” on your subject matter and your profession. You can accomplish this by continuing to invest in your personal development. Keeping pace with your industry trends and your customers challenges and activities, which will help you bring creative solutions and clearly differentiate you from your competitors.
Potential
Give your clients a reason to do business with you. Being prepared and bringing value to your customer interactions are table stakes to stay in the game. But, remember people do business with people they like, period. Make friends!
At Butler Street, sales process, skills development, coaching and metrics is what drives our customer relationships. The added benefit of injecting a little levity and fun completes the path to selling success. If you want to have more fun, let’s start a conversation.