Tuesday, December 16, 2008

What You Can Control in Tough Times

As someone who tends to worry constantly about things I have no control over, I found this article from sales trainer Tom Reilly very helpful. No matter how tough your situation is - be it financial, health, or family-related, it's important to realize we can only do so much. Let go of things you can't control and focus on those you can.

"The reason people fret and stress over tough times is that most of us feel like things are happening outside our sphere of control," says Reilly. "There are things you control and things you cannot control. You cannot control Wall Street. You cannot control the price of fuel. You cannot control the news from the media. But, there are significant things you can control."

"The rule of thumb for sanity in tough times is: Give time and energy in proportion to the amount of control you have. Things over which you have little or no control get little time and attention. Things over which you have more or total control get a lot of time and energy."

You can control how much you prepare for a sales call.
You do not want to be out-prepared by the customer for a meeting in which you will discuss price. You do not want to be out-prepared by the competition for a product demonstration. Preparation builds your confidence and tilts the playing field in your direction.

You can control how hard you work.

You do not want to be out-worked by the competition. Imagine losing an opportunity because your competitor worked harder than you did. Your work ethic is an expression of your commitment. Working diligently at a task makes you feel better about the quality of your work.

You can control your attitude of serving.

You do not want to be out-served by the competition because their attitude about taking care of customers is better than your attitude. If they out-care you, you deserve to lose the opportunity. Serving others takes your mind off how bad you feel.

If you prepare thoroughly, work hard, and care genuinely about serving your customers, you have nothing to fear from tough times. Your customers will make sure you emerge victorious.

Tom Reilly is a sales trainer and the author of How to Sell and Manage in Tough Times and Tough Markets. Learn more at www.TomReillyTraining.com

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This post highlights how important attitude (and it's resulting actions) are in the current marketplace. In our industry, I see many people who talk about and focus on negatives and naturally their performance drops. In contrast, there are other who stay focused on positives and their results remain better than average, even when the pressure is on.