Author, Jay Forte and I offered some comments on a post a few years ago. In essence, we said, "If you don't love it...don't do it!" The advice goes something like this:
The next time you are introduced to someone, instead of just asking "What do you do" add "Why do you do what you do?" The answers are typically very revealing and usually one of two themes will emerge.
1) Many folks have no idea why they do what they do...they just ended up there (maybe by accident) or got moved up by natural progression or just plain needed to make some money and never left the occupation they started at. They can do the job, maye even effectively, they just don't love it...sad, bland and boring!
2) Others get excited when they start telling you about what they do. It appeals to an aspect of their persoality and they absolutely, passionately love what they do. They feel like they contribute and their role is probably matched to the strengths of their personalities! Wow, how refreshing that is!
The job performance and effectiveness of person number two will obviously be much stronger than that of person number one. It helps to prove that skills and experience are usually not as important as talents and strenghts when it comes to finding a fulfilling and exciting career. Talents are hard-wired into us and that is part of what makes us all different. You aren't guaranteed of success because of a talent-to-job-match but it sure increases the odds! Personal happiness and self-esteem become part of person number two's life as well!
Now when we look at especially productive salespeople we quickly recognize that we can teach all of the selling steps and processes but...when you find a truly successful sales person the hard-wired talents usually match up as well.
Success as a BDR (business development rep) begins with a passion for being a social animal and loving interaction with other people. If you love traveling to new places, meeting new people and learning more about both...it certainly will improve your odds of being successful at selling. Ask any salesperson who is really successful why she is so and she will tell you that she loves helping people solve problems and likes working with lots of different people. She will also say that she works for an "opportunity-focused organization" and you will quickly recognize the emotional connection she has to her work and her customers. She is self-motivated, loves winning and standing out from the crowd!
Success in sales (as well as anything else in this era of the intellectual and service workplace) is certainly helped with the skills you learn along the way (technical skills, prioritizing, process selling, etc) but... the real bottom line is if you don't love what you do....find something you love! Your odds for success will dramatically improve!
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