In an award-winning chocolate chip cookie, all the ingredients must be right for it to be complete and stand out from the rest. The combination of these exact ingredients, used in just the right proportions, is what makes it special. Ingredients can be changed, altered, increased, decreased, missing, defective, misused, high quality, low quality, solid, liquid, powder, mental, psychological and even cosmic.
Ingredients are used in almost everything we touch every day. Without the proper ingredients, things don’t work the way we intended or want them to. Take out one ingredient in cement (water) and it simply does not work. Add too much water to cement and it also does not work. It is important to have the right proportion of any one ingredient so that it will work well with other ingredients and produce the desired results. Ingredients can also be bad. High fructose corn syrup is in most foods we eat today and has been linked to weight gain and obesity which lead to more serious health problems.
Many sales professionals I have interviewed admit that they have bad or missing ingredients that could be hindering their sales success. The ingredients for sales success that I outline in this book can also be good or bad or even missing altogether, it depends on how they have been studied and applied to your psyche.
Like everything we see, touch, feel and live, ingredients are present in one form or another. Being a person and a sales professional is no different; we are made up and succeed by applying multiple ingredients, which ultimately lead to our psyche. These ingredients come from multiple influences in life, everything from our personality, friends, family and education, to books, seminars and fellow coworkers. The idea that you can read one book and become a super salesman is not realistic. To be well rounded as a sales professional, you have to have multiple ingredients from multiple influences that are joined into a master recipe, which is you.
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
- Robert Collier
The Individual Psyche
Over the last ten years, I have consulted with many organizations that seem to have a common problem – their sales force performance. Rather than get to the real root of the problem which is individual behavior and habits, they tend to grasp for the latest sales training fad, guru or gimmick that is going to magically transform their sales force into super closers and produce sales gold. It is in human and corporate nature to keep trying to improve and create processes that are expected to generate results or achieve established goals. But one thing that is almost always overlooked is the psyche of the individuals expected to perform.
In psychoanalysis and other forms of depth psychology, the psyche (pronounced \ˈsī-kē\) refers to the forces in an individual that influence thought, behavior and personality. The word is borrowed from ancient Greek and refers to the concept of the self, encompassing the modern ideas of soul, self, and mind. The Greeks believed that the soul or “psyche” was responsible for all behavior. Who you are and how others see you are all part of your psyche and this psyche is the root of all happiness, health, abundance and success. The ingredients that make up “you” are projected out to the universe, and in return, you receive what it is that you think about most. This is called “The Law of Attraction” and your psyche is the base from which this law operates. Change your psyche – change your results!
“Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better” – Sydney J. Harris
Facilitating Change
I have learned that change is something that everyone wants but it is sometimes the most difficult process for humans to initiate. Some fear change, while others, like me, believe that we should always be changing to adapt to our environments. People who are comfortable in their environments will fight change even though it is beneficial to all others around them. Strong individual egos will deflect change with the belief that their behavior is the way everyone else should be. The fact is, we live in a world of change and if you plan to use this book and it’s ingredients to master your sales success, you must realize that change is a critical requirement to your growth and ultimate mastery of your sales psyche.
The type of change that I encourage revolves around your current behavior and analysis of the ingredients that make up that behavior. You then apply proven techniques and knowledge that modify the deficient ingredients to better align with your psyche. I call this Behavioral Ingredient Modification (BIM). BIM requires you to use your thoughts to create your current psyche, drawing from your experience and knowledge. All that you are right now is a result of your thoughts and this is what makes up your ingredients. You can see how this is more than just a procedural sales process – it’s about you!
“That a man can change himself and master his own destiny, is the conclusion of every mind who is wide awake to the power of right thought.” – Christian D Larson
This book gives you the 29 essential ingredients needed for sales success and encourages you to seek additional knowledge to modify your behavior to craft your own psyche based on the specific ingredients that make up YOU. I do not concentrate on logical or procedural sales training that often creates boring robot order takers. Instead, I focus on addressing human behavior and crafting relationships using multiple ingredients that make up a solid foundation that does not become obsolete by changes in culture, customer behavior, or technology.
These strategic ingredients intertwine to ultimately give you a strong recipe for successfully nurturing and closing a sale. Throughout the years, I have met struggling sales professionals who work very hard to produce little or no results. They seemed to focus all their strength in areas that they thought would make them successful. I have seen them working on their weaknesses over and over again, hoping for a different result or to just get lucky.
Hope is not one of the ingredients. Luck is not one of the ingredients. 29i will show you how to find the right ingredients for everyday sales activities, to be a more successful sales leader and to understand that this is a profession that you have chosen and that there are ingredients that have to be applied in order for it to work properly. Even if you have already developed a strong sales psyche you can use these ingredients to improve your sales skills.
Over 20 years in sales has given me the opportunity to collect these 29 essential ingredients (29i) and put them into a format that is easy for both new sales professionals and seasoned veterans to understand. My ingredients were compiled and influenced by many factors including my teamwork and leadership training in the military and many years of direct and corporate sales. During this time, I sought out the ingredients from many different sources, which crafted my sales psyche and molded me into what I am today.
29i will introduce you to the essential ingredients needed to create your own unique style of selling based on your current knowledge, your ability to change and what fits into your psyche. This will differentiate you from the rest of the pack and make you into a top sales professional. Some of you reading this might be thinking, “But this is what I’ve always done!” That’s great, because the whole purpose of 29i is to fuel your passion for a deeper understanding of the sales profession, while transforming you into a top producer.
I use the words “Sales Professional” throughout the book because this is the title you deserve. But in order to earn that title you must master and apply multiple ingredients that work together to make you a professional in sales. How you look, talk, write, act and work determine whether you are a professional or an amateur. Society does not emphasize the importance of professionalism, so people tend to believe that amateur work is normal.
I created 29i to identify the essential ingredients of successful sales professionals and to be used as a guide for further development. It is your job to understand these essential ingredients and to research each ingredient in more detail. There are many books and even scientific studies, which go into far greater detail. Seek this information – study this information and apply this information. Remember that this is the knowledge that is required for this profession. You are the master of your psyche and you have the power to craft it using multiple sources and expertise. To master these ingredients requires you to Go Beyond This Book!
Remember – don’t ever let the past decide your future!