A Pat On the Back...Before Getting Back At It

A salesman and friend just made a rather large deal and I was thrilled because I had done work as his coach. He called me to tell me about it, but there was something in his voice that didn’t sound right. “Scott, it was one of the biggest deals of my career. It was worth a lot of money, but I could have done better. I could have sold them a bigger plan. Next time, I have to work even harder.”

Shaking my head, I just sighed because this guy had cancelled his own party.

Where was the “atta boy” moment?

Where were the self-congratulations?

In this sales world we live in that’s so fast paced, we don’t take a minute to celebrate our successes. It begs the question: Are you too hard on yourself? And do you enjoy your moments of triumph or do you let them pass right by you?

A good salesperson will be hard on him or herself because that’s where you get the drive to push on and succeed. That’s the good news. The tough news is that if you’re too hard on yourself for too long a period of time then you will burn out.

Ask yourself: Do you take a moment to say, “I did it!” Or are you the person who barely takes a breath and ponders, “Okay, what’s next?”

Do you say, “That was great!”

Or do you say, “That could have been better.”

Of course, it could always be better, but you should also take the time to revel in what’s great before the moment passes you by forever. You need to celebrate as a way to refresh. It’s like you’re wiping the slate clean as a way to start again.

There is also a bigger issue here. If you’re someone who thinks, “It’s never enough” then you’re either living in the past (when it was more) or the future (where there might be more). Your goal as a human being who happens to work in a tough field called sales is to live in the present.

I’m not saying you need to give yourself a week in Miami because you made three great sales today…although if you can then pass the sunscreen. You can take a minute, reflect or just have a nice dinner. You can make a phone call to an old friend and meet for a day of golf. You can take a day off and just do whatever you want to do. Your goal on that day isn’t to clean out your desk and get your Blackberry organized for “what’s next?”

It’s simply to be.

Remember if it’s never enough then you will run out of steam before it becomes enough. That’s why you should schedule in some downtime to become the most effective you…and to give yourself that well-deserved pat on the back.