HOW TO WIN AT EVERYTHING YOU DO THIS YEAR:
Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. As much as I’d like to take credit for those words they belong to the late Vince Lombardi. I’ll never forget his quote that was printed on my very first business card: “The man who wins is the man who thinks he can.”
I’m often asked how I’ve achieved the success that I have over the years. My simple answer? I like to win and I never settle for second place. I might sound like a competitive parent on the side of a football field but in my opinion, if you’re not first, you’re last.
Having been in the sales industry for over twenty-eight years I can’t stress the importance enough of imploring a winning mentality. If you’re an entrepreneur or sales professional that wants to make a success of your career this year, then I’ve got some winning advice for you:
Positivity goes a long way:
The way you think, affects all aspects of your life. Learn to listen to that voice inside your head and recognise how your thought patterns affect your decision-making process and how you handle stressful situations. Having a positive mental attitude is vital. Negative thoughts don’t get you anywhere.
Negativity holds you back and keeps you from achieving the things that you are more than capable of achieving. The secret is an unshakeable belief in yourself. Make a point of verbalising all of your positives and write down all of your success stories. Achieving a winning, positive attitude can be incredibly effective in your quest for sales success.
Competition is good for you:
Let’s be honest- if you weren’t competitive by nature then you wouldn’t be in sales. It’s important to be able to benchmark yourself against your peers. I’ve always been fuelled by my competitors- they keep me thinking and moving forward. Competition takes us out of our comfort zone and forces us to better ourselves and find innovative ways to sell our products and services.
If you aren’t constantly working on yourself then you’re not innovating, and if you’re not being innovative then you’ve lost your competitive edge. The failure to innovate leads to obsolescence. Commit to your personal development. Compete with yourself.
Competition is the very essence of a sales professional’s existence. Study it. Embrace it. Love it. Use it as a motivator to fuel you. Use it to take you to the top of your mental game. Develop an unstoppable competitive mindset, and you’ll sell yourself to success.
Know your competitors:
Make a point of setting some time aside every day to find out who the new players are and find out what they’re doing and how you can do it better.
Appreciate your competition. Learn from them. Use them to scare you into more heightened motivation and a stronger competitive mindset. Always make sure that you’re one step ahead.
Stop slacking off!
You can’t expect to be great at what you do if you’re not prepared to put in the required time and effort. Successful entrepreneurs are out there selling, not sleeping! How many times in a day do you lose focus? What you have to realise is that every time you lose focus, you’re making it that much harder for yourself to win!
Winners never quit. Winners don’t slack off and put things off. Winners get things done. Be a determined competitor. Former United States Secretary of State George Shultz had the right idea when he said: “Winners don’t make excuses. The minute you start talking about what you’re going to do if you lose, you have lost.”
Learn to love the pressure:
Do you sell your best under difficult circumstances? Let the competitive, uncertain selling environment motivate you to focus better, think more clearly and be even more determined to win.
Confidence is key:
Have you ever met a successful person who didn’t believe in themselves? I sure haven’t. That’s because winners have a quiet confidence (occasionally bordering on arrogance) that gives them enormous self-belief, enabling them to perform at a high level.
This kind of confidence is a skill that comes from disciplined practice. You have to learn how to quieten the voices of doubt in your head that tell you that you can’t win.
Confident people are never defeated. They keep persisting in the belief that their best is good enough to prevail in the end.
Make it happen:
At the end of the day, winners never quit and quitters never win. And the people who believe in themselves the most are the ones that are going to make it happen!
