Excellence is Exhausting

Anyone that achieves a significant amount of success at almost anything will assure you that success is hard won. It doesn’t matter if you goal is to be the most successful sales person, athlete, parent, friend, family member, church member, fundraiser…the list can go on and on. You will have to win more than you lose. Balancing winning and losing, I have found, is difficult because for some reason people aren’t prepared to loose.

Unsuccessful people are actually expecting to not experience defeat; this idea of being able to win them all actually results in failure. I will quickly be able to show you what you need to do to be truly successful in selling and then in achieving your other goals as well.

If someone told you, “I can help you achieve your goals more effectively and be more successful than you imagined” would you be interested? If you’re not that could be part of your problem. If you are, then keep reading and open your mind to ‘the art of losing’.

I am hoping you have a sense of humor and decided to keep reading this article. The point I am making is a simple one and I will walk you through how you can apply it.

Don’t try to be perfect

Early on in your career you need to be thankful for the people who give you a swift kick in the ass. Honestly, the buyers that give you a hard time or push you beyond your immediate knowledge base have helped you more than you can know. Because even the idea of acting like you have all the answers or like you will never miss on a sales call is exhausting.

The appearance of perfection is flawed thinking.

I will give you an example almost everyone is aware of. Tiger Woods in his early career started his career with a stoic eye to perfection. His skills were exceptional and no one doubted he was talented beyond measure. However, at some point the people around him started marketing him as the of symbol perfection.

I don’t know if the perception of Tiger being above common mistakes grew organically or if a clever agent thought it up to sell clubs. Few of us will never truly know.

We can all recall hearing the news of Tiger Wood’s martial problems, extra material affairs, sexual escapades, and his image of a role model instantly vanishing.

I once heard a comment regarding Tiger; before his car accident and staged apology, ‘with Tiger in his inner circle it was a one and done policy’ regarding how Tiger trusted those close to him

The statement ‘one and done’ basically showed Tiger’s unwillingness to forgive those close to him . If in Tiger’s mind you broke his trust, for whatever reason, you could find yourself on the outside looking in.

The irony is clear that Tiger held loyalty so high in judging others and so low in judging his own actions. I personally don’t judge Tiger. What people chose to do in their marriages, bedrooms, personal life is basically up to them.

What I think we can all learn from the fall of Tigers ‘near perfect’ image is to not pretend we are even close to perfect in the first place.

Learn to Lose

You will not win them all; so start learning how to lose. The key to losing is being able to understand what was not successful.

Too many people internalize losing and make it an absolute concept. Statement’s such as, “I screwed up” or “I blew it” or “How could I have been so dumb?” or “Why me?” All carry meaning far beyond analyzing one situation. These statements judge the person rather than the actions.

One loss does not make you a loser. You are not your actions. You can learn from your loss and move forward to bigger and better things.

I find seeking out experienced colleagues to find out what I could have done better is one of the best ways to turn the tables on an unsuccessful sales call. Sometimes just sounding out what I did or did not do can identify a key insight or learning that will help you be more successful next time.

Tiger Woods spent too much time judging those around him and trying to project an image of perfection. Instead of making sure he was holding himself to a high moral standard he committed a selling Sin; Tiger ‘said one thing and did another’.  He built a house of cards and all of his competitors were all too happy to watch it come crashing down.

Don’t try to act like you are perfect. You’re not, so get over it, be humble and sell like hell.