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I Love What I Do!
I really do love what I do. In the last week I had the pleasure to visit two dealerships, three if you count picking up my new Jeep, but that is a story for another day. During my visits to these dealerships, I had the pleasure of interacting with so many great salespeople and while talking to them, I truly felt the love. These interactions brought a smile to my face and warmth inside my heart.
I arrived at one of the dealerships early in order to get everything set up for my presentation. Once everything was tested and ready to go, I still had some time to kill, so I walked out onto the showroom floor, and ran into one of my favorite salespeople.
This particular salesperson, waved me over to their desk with a big smile on their face, invited me to sit with them, and began to tell me about a recent customer experience they had. All of the steps, processes, and overcomes the salesperson told me about, I agreed with, and let the salesperson know as much. After praising the salesperson, they replied to me enthusiastically, “It’s easy, because I love what I do!”
Now this is not the first time this salesperson has told me they loved what they do. As a matter of fact, they told me about the same thing during a recent online virtual training session. Loving what you do was the exact message that I was trying to get across, however, I just didn’t have the right words. In fact, after the salesperson said it, I declared with enthusiasm, “EXCACTLY!”
This was exactly what I was looking to express, I even went back and added to my presentation for future classes. This is such a powerful message, and one I have always known; however, these recent experiences have opened my eyes to how helpful loving what you do, helps you perform your best.
4 Reasons to Love What You Do
1. If you love what you do, it isn’t work
This is the most common reference to loving what you do. There is definitely some truth behind this, however, it is a little of a misnomer. Any desired result worth having, will require hard work, it does not matter how much you love it. The fact that you love it just makes the hard work required to be successful just that much easier. Think of a professional athlete. They love being a professional athlete, however all the work and training that went into becoming a professional athlete, and all of the continuous hard work and training that is required to maintain being a professional athlete, is work. In fact, it is hard work, but it is just that much easier because of the love for the game.
2. Love what you do enough to become an expert at it
It has been said that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. Now, I can not tell you with 100% certainty whether or not this is true, I can say with a 100% certainty is that becomes an expert requires you to invest two things in yourself, TIME and MONEY. Like any journey, no matter how far away the destination is, it begins with a first step. In the journey of becoming an expert salesperson, it begins with your commitment to invest your time and money into becoming this expert. Commit to spending the time, whether it is 1,000 hours, 10,000 hours, or 100,000 hours, just commit to as long as is takes.
Next comes the money aspect of it. One of the biggest mistakes most salespeople make is their unwillingness to invest money in themselves. The average lawyer spends $136,707 to go to law school. A doctor can spend up to $257,768 (out-of-state, private school) for medical school. So, why do these other professions invest so much into themselves, because it is worth it.
The average lawyer makes $144,230 and the average doctor makes $225,011 per year. If you want to make this kind of money, you must be willing to invest in yourself. And the good news is that you do not have to invest nearly the time nor money that these other professions require, however, with a commitment to investing the time and money in yourself, this industry is pretty easy to exceed those other professions incomes levels.
3. Loving what you do, will allow your skills to become second nature
As a part of your time commitment, you must commit to practicing your skills, sharpening your skills, and learning new skills every day. Never stop getting better. Never stop practicing. Take a look at some of the top athletes in the world. Tiger Woods, one of the greatest golfers of all time, before every round he would hit a bucket of balls, to ensure his swing was perfect. Then after a round he would hit another bucket of balls, to ensure his swing stayed that way. Same can be said of top baseball players, practicing their batting swing, or basketball players shooting free throws. One of my favorite quotes of all time is:
“Amateurs practice until they get it right, professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong?”
4. Use the Love you have to create Enthusiasm and Excitement in Yourself and Others
A recent Harvard University study found that 95% of decisions to buy something are sub-consciously made based upon emotions. That is worth repeating, 95% of buying decisions are made based upon emotions. Your customer is not going to come to you emotionally charged up to buy. You need to be excited and enthusiastic about what you do, what you sell and about your company, so you can transfer that excitement and enthusiasm to your customer, giving them the emotions needed to buy you, your company, and your product. Loving all of these yourself will give you GENUINE enthusiasm and excitement that will rub off on your customers.
Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street, and not the person that Leonardo Di Caprio played in the movie, but the real Jordan Belfort says that every great salesperson must have these three things:
- Be Sharp as a Tack
- Be Enthusiastic as Hell
- Be an Expert in Your Field
I could not agree more with these three traits that all great salespeople have in common. And looking back at the week I have had, the refresher I have received in loving what you do, I realize that being sharp as a tack, being enthusiastic as hell, and becoming an expert in your field ALL begin with LOVING what you do. I love this industry, I love sales, I love helping customers, and I love helping people get better at their craft. If you do not love what you are doing, ask yourself “why?” And figure out what you can do to love what you do, or maybe even find another profession you can love. Life is too short to be in a job you do not love. If there is anything that I can do to help with this, please reach out to me at: joe@ditln.com. It would be my pleasure to help you get on the right path!
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