Faking, Falling and Failing

Even the most detailed time management planner won’t save you if you find yourself slacking off at work and not giving 100 percent. It isn’t just the losers who fall into this trap either. I’ve seen some decent salespeople get caught here. Danny, one of our rookie salesmen, tallied up 84 prospects who promised to buy a new car or truck from him by mid-December. “I’m gonna sell more cars than Girard”, he boasted. He was so sure he was going to rewrite the record book, he took his eye off the ball and went out and spent a small fortune on Christmas gifts for his wife and three kids in anticipation of his earnings. Sadly, he was able to close only three of the 84 prospects. Had he spent his time being more thorough and persistent with his prospects, he might have been able to close an additional 60 to 70 percent of them. Danny’s story is similar to the fate of so many other sales reps I’ve run into over the years.

Slacking Off- Leads to Failure

They start off working hard and making good use of their time. They have a few good results. All of a sudden they begin to believe they’re so good that things will happen automatically, that success is some kind of ticket to the easy life—an entitlement to slack off. They begin to believe that things can’t possibly go wrong now that they’ve enjoyed a taste of success. They get cocky and then they get lazy. They’re on the way down—FALLING down to the reality that they’re not for real after all. They’re FAKES. And all fakes have something waiting for them around the corner–FAILURE. Failure is always lurking in the “alleys of life,” watching and waiting for the right moment when it’s least expected to spring out of nowhere and mug people like that.

Let me tell you something: people who enjoy success too quickly can often be doomed to failure if they forget what got them there and where they came from. That’s why I always keep a picture of myself shining shoes as a nine year old kid on the wall of my office. I never want to forget where I came from.  How many professional athletes and Hollywood actors and actresses and singers do we know who have fallen victim to “stardom” in their careers? There’s too many to count. Suddenly they forget where they came from. All that hard work to get launched goes down the drain with inflated egos, drugs, alcohol and eventually financial ruin. The dream becomes their worst nightmare.

Why does this happen so often? In most cases, it’s because they took their eye off the ball. They let distractions lure them away from success and suck them into the quicksand of failure. They left who they were to become someone even they couldn’t recognize. What does this mean to you? Let me give you some pointers to make sure none of this ever happens to you

  • Never forget where you came from. Keep a picture of yourself as a kid nearby.
  • Remember your success is NEVER ALL ABOUT YOU. If you’re in sales, you represent a product orservice backed by lots of other people without whom you’d fail.

1) You will have your ups and downs. Be thankful for the UPS and humble during the DOWNS.
2) Winning isn’t about being arrogant. It’s about being appreciative.
3) Always put yourself second. Put your family first. That’s why you do what you do.

If you keep those five things in mind, you will never have to look back on your career with regrets about the empty trail you left behind.