Your Support Group May Be Holding You Back

Unfortunately, more than half of the people reading this are stuck…

Because they weren’t paying attention to what was happening, they’re…

• stuck with an average attitude,
• stuck with poor work habits in sales,
• stuck with skills that don’t work,
• and all of that means they’re stuck at average or below in sales and income.

Why? Because they’re stuck in the wrong support group at work.

Think about it … wouldn’t it be great if your friends at work were your support group in sales to help you grow?

That way, you could have that ‘Master Mind’ group Napoleon Hill talked about that’s made up of your favorite

4 or 5 other salespeople who work together and support each other to continually improve.

Unfortunately, that isn’t what’s happening with average (10.5 units per month) and below average salespeople (less than 10.5 units).

For most of my first 5 years in sales I got trapped in the ‘huddle’ of underachievers. We were all friends who spent our days in sales just waiting for a customer to show up.

To pass the time, we’d sit in the gazebo on the used car lot and talk about kids, sports, skiing, and of course about why we weren’t selling more, until a manager came by and yelled, “You guys go do something!”

So we’d break up, head different directions but somehow we’d all end up at the coffee machine at the same time to continue our conversations.

Actually we never talked much about ‘selling’, mostly about why we weren’t selling more or earning more. It was more of a complaint group where we could all share our stories of how well we could do ‘if only’.

Then there was Charlie. Nice guy, but he wouldn’t spend two minutes talking to any of us. He just came to work, spent his days going through his prospect and customer lists, talking on the phone and selling twice as many cars as we did.

He was nice, but just wouldn’t spend much time talking. So one day I asked him why he never talked to us and he said, “Because I come here to work and feed my family, and most of you guys won’t be here next month anyway, so what’s the point.”

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You need to understand the 20 / 60 / 20 rule…

20% of the people in business or in any job, live at the bottom of success in their career.

They have crummy attitudes, no skills, poor work habits, and will fight to the end to avoid improving and do their best to add new friends.

20% of the people in business or in any job are at the top and loving life. The top 20% are committed to doing their best. They go to work to work, focus on continually improving everything they do, and they have great, positive attitudes and expectations.

Note: The top 20% take home 80% of the money earned by all salespeople.

The middle 60% is where most people spend their careers and their lives.

The upper end of the 60% lean toward getting better, put in a little more effort, and try to stay positive. The bottom half leans the other way.

No matter which group you’re in, you need to recognize where you are.

It wasn’t until I read books by Zig Ziglar, W. Clement Stone, Napoleon Hill, Ben Franklin, and the book “Choices”, that I understood that by my own lack of action to change, I had chosen to be in that bottom 20%.

All of those incredible and successful leaders made me understand that I always had the option, and the opportunity to move up whenever I was willing to change and improve.

A quick sales tip…

If you’re in the bottom 20%, just start learning more, set some easy goals, and just spend more of your day working instead of waiting. I promise you’ll see a difference.

If you’re in the 60% – just start leaning more toward growth and improve even a little more on purpose.

If you’re at the top – congratulations. And when you see someone with potential, understand that you can make a difference in their lives forever, so give them some support.

Zig Ziglar changed my life personally and in sales with one statement that everyone should understand…

“You can have everything in life you want if you help enough other people get what they want.”

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Get Joe Verde’s sales book, Get Everything You Want In Sales, now and put your career on the right track – it’s free.