Benefits of an Athlete's Discipline in Sales Success | SOS Ep. 349

What if the secret to sales success was akin to the commitment of an athlete? 
Join us as we unpack the parallels between a pro in the field and a pro in the sales game. We uncover why sales isn't a typical 9-5 job, but instead, a career that demands constant growth, adaptation, and a dedication to personal development. Dispel the myth that sales training is solely about product knowledge, features, and benefits. Discover the value in mastering the art of connection, of guiding someone to a better future through your product or service, and the power of being a giver in your professional life.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

The Surviving Outside Sales podcast, hosted by Mike O'Kelly, presented by Sales Builder Academy, the goal is to survive and thrive all phases of outside sales, whether you're getting in, dominating or getting out. Surviving Outside Sales. Now on with the show. Welcome to the Surviving Outside Sales podcast and your host, mike O'Kelly.

Speaker 1: 0:33

One question to start the day what are you doing in your personal development journey? How are you getting better? Sales is a skill. Being a professional salesperson, the word is professional. Think about athletes. I've mentioned it before.

Speaker 1: 1:00

Lebron James does not go out on the court without practice, without strength training, taking care of his body, eating right. He has decades of process. Every game day he has the same routine, the same process and over the years he's added things, taken things away. He comes up with a new plan based on the new scenarios. In fact, I think LeBron came out over the summer and said there were things that got his game and there's things about his preparation he was going to have to change due to his age. Folks, if you're in sales and you are not developing your skills, working on your skills, coming up with new plans every single year I've mentioned it before you need to have a different sales plan for every quarter. I know that's a lot of work, but hey, you're a professional right. This is not a clock in, clock out type of role.

Speaker 1: 2:01

If you want to do that, sales is not the place you should go. You can go into retail. You can go into some other line of work. Sales is that glorious world of I can sell anybody and do my job after hours. I could meet somebody on the weekend. I could sell them. That doesn't happen with my wife, who's in corporate finance. She doesn't do any work on the weekends. She doesn't have to. She's not going to meet somebody over the weekend and all of a sudden she's going to close some big deal and make more money. But that's the ability of sales. That's the glorious part of sales. That's what I love about sales. You can completely transform and change your life based on your willingness to get better, your willingness to change, your willingness to do the things that others won't do.

Speaker 1: 2:58

What have you done recently to develop your skill set? These are the things that you should be doing. You should get coaching. It's interesting I had several calls in the last two weeks with my students and I feel like they were some of the best calls that I've had in 2023. The reason why is because the students had immediate impact on what they had gotten. They were thirsty. People come to me. They are thirsty for knowledge. They are thirsting for help Because they're not getting it out there in the sales world.

Speaker 1: 3:42

If you're listening to this right now and you're thinking to yourself I didn't get the proper training, you are not alone. Going for help does not make you weak. It is a sign of strength. It is a sign of strength that you are trying to get better and you are trying to evolve. I have spent high five figures on my development in the last three years. I'm pushing $100,000 that I have paid others to help me with my skill development. If you've got an ego, oh, I don't need help, I'm great, I'm this, I'm that Folks. I have seen people who quote unquote make President's Club win awards and they can't sell themselves out of a wet paper bag. They're not with that company anymore that had that well-known product name with an existing pipeline when that person walked in.

Speaker 1: 4:50

If you are in sales right now, you need to develop the ability to walk up to a stranger. Build a connection, demonstrate a better future state using your product or service with that person and get them to say yes. Can you do that 150 times a year? If the answer is no, then you need to work on your skills. You need to get better. It doesn't mean you've done anything wrong, especially in the medical field. I worked there for well over a decade, been in sales 20 years plus.

Speaker 1: 5:36

Not every company offers great training. You can't assume that I'm going to tell you this right now. Product training is not sales training. Okay, handling objections is not sales training. Features and benefits is not sales training. I'm going to say this one more time for the people who are hard headed. I know you're out there because, let's face it, you're in sales. Product training is not sales training. Features and benefits are not sales training. Handling objections is not sales training. Those are all inward facing, egocentric ideas. You're getting a lot of objections because you're not doing it right. You do it correctly. You connect with somebody. You talk about a better future state.

Speaker 1: 6:42

People go from objections to questions. Okay, mike, tell me, how does this work as opposed to, yeah, we're not interested, it's too expensive. Blah, blah, blah. I was talking to one of my students yesterday. They call that an F-off question. You're going to get questions where some of your buyers are going to say F-off, in other words, they're going to have an objection. That's just so ridiculous. They basically just want you to get out of their face. It's an F-off. I don't want to say the full word, I don't want to get in trouble for that, but yes, that's an F-off question. You get one of those.

Speaker 1: 7:22

You have come completely incorrect in front of that prospect. That's okay, you can come back later. You just have to come up with a different plan. You can't just go and keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. That is the definition of insanity. That is the world we're living in right now in the sales world Insanity, insanity. The only thing that executives trust me. It's a battle that I face every single day.

Speaker 1: 7:46

I wish I had more companies that were clamoring for training, but you know what I go up against when I talk to some of these executives is no, we're good, we don't need any training. No, we've got the best training staff. Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, you have the best training staff, but yet you just told me you guys are only growing at 9%. 9% is nothing. That is nothing. It really. I mean, if you have anybody out in the field and people are using your product. You should be growing at least 30 to 40%. 9% is not good enough. If you do everything properly, the bare minimum that you should be growing is 30 to 40% Year over year the bare minimum. If you're not setting records, if you're not crushing your quota, if you're not having people calling you up to order or you up to have buying meetings, you're not doing it right.

Speaker 1: 8:48

Everything is transactional. Folks, you have to build in your territory this idea that you are all encompassing, you are omnipresent, you are everywhere. They are thinking about you 24-7. Walking in, talking features and benefits does not cut it. You will not connect with somebody with features and benefits. People do not give a shit about your product. They only care about how your product will help them. Stop talking features and benefits. Stop talking about how great your company is, how long you've been in business, how long you've been doing this. Trust me as a buyer, nobody gives a shit. I don't care what company I go with. If I can see a clear, distinct, better future state, I will say yes, I don't care if you've been in business for a year or you've been in business for 50. It's all about my as the buyer future state being improved faster, with less headache and less costly than if I tried to do it on my own. It's that simple, folks.

Speaker 1: 10:06

So if you're listening right now and you're driving around and you're just pounding the pavement, good for you. You need to learn how to manage a territory, how to build a business. You should be getting orders when you're on vacation. If you're going on vacation and you're not getting orders, we need to talk ASAP because you're not doing it right. And you might think to yourself I can do this forever. No, you can't Trust me.

Speaker 1: 10:37

I'm in my mid 40s. There are things that I can't do today that I could do three, four years ago. Imagine if I was still out in the field. You're putting mileage on your body and your car, but forget about the car. You're putting mileage on your body. You're beating yourself down. You need to do it better.

Speaker 1: 11:03

Going back to the beginning, you need to work on your skills. Plan and simple, plan and simple. You need to work on your skills. If you don't work on your skills, you are going to be left out. You are constantly going to be having an open for work banner on your LinkedIn.

Speaker 1: 11:28

I do feel, for some of these people that can't find work I really do it's really difficult. But on the other hand, I just want to ask them what are you doing? One of these people that say I've been out of work for nine months and I can't pay my bills. What are you doing? What are you doing? Stop asking everybody on LinkedIn to do something. What are you doing? What type of action are you taking? That is the question that I want to ask people. But I know the answer. I know the answer. Well, you don't understand. I've got this going on. I've got this going on, please. I'm opening a retail business. I just hired people. I'm working my coaching business. I'm applying to be a speaker at a conference that I'm going to in a couple weeks. I've got two toddlers. I've got a wife. I've got a family.

Speaker 1: 12:26

Like, I'm busy morning, noon and night and I still am getting it done. Am I getting it done 100% efficiently? No, but I'm still getting it done. I'm still working on things Every day. I try to improve every single day. You improve 1% every single day Guess what? And a little over 90 days, 100% better. You'll be twice as good as you were, and then you just rinse and repeat and you constantly do that. You need to take action today. This is what you need to do, and I don't care if it's with me. This is not self-serving. Okay, some people are not going to like the cut of my cloth. Get coaching.

Speaker 1: 13:13

I offer at least three types of coaching in my programs If you're getting in, trying to get that first job, trying to land that job, trying to get an industry. If you're trying to dominate, you want to build a business, you want to know how to take your business to the next level. You want to get real business training. And then, if you want to get out into the next phase of your life. I have done everything, literally everything, and I give you the playbook, I give you the blueprint. That's why I named it Sales Builder Blueprint. I give you the blueprint for what you can do to build your business forever, no matter what you do. And if it's not with me, hey, let's have a conversation, and if it doesn't work out, I can send you to somebody else.

Speaker 1: 14:04

I am not the only sales coach out there. There's lots of sales coaches out there. There are a lot of people who have been very successful and are where you want to go that I can connect you with, but you've got to take action. I'm so sick and tired, I really am. I'm just. I'm so sick and tired when I hear salespeople who are like, wow, I just don't really want to invest in that. Oh, that seems like a lot of money. Yeah, it's a lot of money for your future. You don't think that athletes?

Speaker 1: 14:35

Lebron James spends over a million dollars a year on his body alone. A million dollars a year on his body, physical therapists, equipment for his house, equipment on the road A million dollars. You say, well, lebron has that money. Where do you want to go? Do you want to make a half a million? Do you want to make a million dollars in sales? Do you want to set yourself up for success? Or do you just want to keep making 125K which, by the way, I just heard the other day, $300,000 is the equivalent of $100,000. That's 30 years ago. $300,000 is the new six figures. That's the same purchasing power. Folks, it's not going to get better. It's not going to get better. That $300,000 in five years is not going to be 250. It's probably going to be. There's probably going to be in some point in 10, 15 years. You have to make a half a million dollars a year household income to live like people did 40 years ago on 100K.

Speaker 1: 15:39

If you're not making that type of money, you better figure out a way. You better start developing skills that are gonna allow you to do that. This is what you need to do. You need to find a coach. Okay, I have coaches. I have three coaches right now that are helping me in various parts of my business.

Speaker 1: 15:55

If you don't think you need coaching, you're an egotistical. You know what I'm just telling you right now? Okay, and if you don't let me saying that, good, because you're probably not gonna reach out to me anyway, I don't care, but it needs to be said. I'm calling a spade a spade. If you don't think you need coaching, you are egotistical, as you know what, and nobody would want to work with you because you're a nodal. And I'll tell you what. You don't know shit. Okay, you don't know shit. You're not as good as you think you are. Trust me, I've met thousands of quote unquote killers in the sales game. Yeah, flash in the pan, fly by night. Their tactics are weak. They use bullying. Can't make careers off that. Nobody wants to work with you, get coaching.

Speaker 1: 16:49

You should be reading sales books weekly. Every week Doesn't mean a full book. You should spend at least 20 to 30 minutes a night reading books. 20 to 30 minutes a night reading books. You need to be listening to podcasts, not just the Surviving Outside Sales podcast. Thank you for listening. You need to listen to two to three other podcasts. If you need recommendations, reach out to me. I can give you recommendations. Okay, you also need to be watching YouTube videos. Okay, you need to be watching YouTube videos. You need to be consuming content. Stop scrolling on social media. Stop scrolling on Instagram, tiktok, whatever it is. Stop wasting your time on Facebook. Spend that consuming sales.

Speaker 1: 17:44

You are a professional. It is time you start acting like it. Dm me on LinkedIn if you wanna chat. I'm willing to help anybody who's listening, anybody who wants to help and anybody who wants to get better. But I'm telling you right now if you wanna get to the next level, you have to act like a professional.

Speaker 1: 18:04

If you don't, I got no sympathy for you. When you're open to work, banner pops up no sympathy for you, and I'll tell you what the real people out there. They don't have sympathy for you either. They might. In public, on LinkedIn, they might try to give you condolences, et cetera, but privately they're like, yeah, I don't care, that person's not willing to help themselves. I'm only willing to help people who are willing to help themselves. Are you gonna be one of those people? Are you gonna be a giver? You gonna give yourself an opportunity, or are you just gonna try to take stuff from people? Choice is yours. Thank you for listening. Probably lost all my listeners with this episode, but it just has to be said. You're a professional. It's time to act like it. We'll see you tomorrow Surviving outside sales. Bye.