Leonardo on Avoiding Mediocrity

 

“Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor
of the mind.”

- Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

Italian painter, sculptor, and inventor

How are you kicking off your salesday?

Are you preparing your mind with solid thought, information, and support? Are you allowing the right radio or TV personalities to get you ready? The right news or material? The right people
at the office?

Be careful to what you give your attention. It all has an influence on you.

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Lewis on Tiny Big Action

 

“The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.”

- C.S. Lewis (1898–1963)
Irish writer and scholar

How many of us have wished we’d given something (or someone) a little extra effort or attention earlier in the quarter/ year rather than later?

Lewis’s thought encourages us to care about what/ who is in front of us now… to fully use today (this salesday) and enjoy what it brings us in the future.

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Saint-Exupery on Your Future

“As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–1944)

French aviator and writer

How are you kicking off your salesday?

Are you preparing your mind with solid thought, information, and support? Are you allowing the right radio or TV personalities to get you ready? The right news or material? The right people at the office?

Be careful to what you give your attention. It all has an influence on you. (And kicking it is much more fun than mediocrity… or worse.)

Feed your mind well. It’s where action starts.

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Kierkegaard on Guts

 

“The thing that cowardice fears most is decision.”

– Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)

Danish philosopher and writer

Sometimes, if we don’t have success after repeated attempts to do something, we can lose confidence and eventually give up trying. It’s called “learned helplessness” (we learn to be helpless).

Sales check: Any areas where you and your team have stopped trying (or try, but with little commitment) because prior repeated failures and/ or a perceived inability to succeed has trained you not to try? In prospecting and customer contact efforts? In motivating and improving team attitudes and cooperation? With customer care improvement initiatives?

If so, what can you start doing today to minimize any “learned helplessness” that may have set in?

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Lipton on Missing It

 

“Don’t mumble your life away.”

– Ethan Lipton (1971 – )
American music artist, playwright


Beginning at the top of the next hour and through the next 48, challenge yourself (and your team)…

When you begin a discussion with a customer, prospect, or colleague, give that individual your complete attention until the issue at hand has been fully addressed.

Every single discussion. Every single interaction. The entire 48-hour period.

Don’t let a phone call interrupt an in-person conversation. Don’t let your email distract you from a phone call. Don’t let a passerby, instant messenger, ithing, droid, or berry take your attention away from someone standing right in front of you (or on the phone).

Remember… Sales is an interpersonal profession.

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