How to Succeed with Purpose in Sales

Sales jobs aren't for the weak of heart.

There are people that think they want this way of life who get in and then realize that what got them here isn't going to keep them here. It's easy to justify mediocrity in this field, even to yourself. You'll never have the perfect territory or the perfect product or the perfect price so you need to learn to succeed on purpose.

Take ownership of your sales career.

When you’ve been at this for a while you realize that there are clear indicators of which sales professionals will rise and which will fall, which will find a way to get it done and which will find reasons to make failure sound acceptable.

It all comes down to the company you keep and the effort you put forth.

When I began my sales career I was trusted to take on the role of a Regional Sales Manager. I was in the field with a corporate card and the promise of commission checks. There was no one to take a meeting until half past nine. There was no coworker calling me to the carpet if I had a lack of market knowledge. There was just a twenty-something me, lunches in trendy restaurants with successful brokers and the daily temptation of beer:30.

Eventually I had an epiphany. It wasn’t going to be enough to get me where I wanted to be.

I walked into the office of our CEO and slid my gas card across his desk. I wanted to work inside and I didn’t care if his jaw dropped at my ask. I wanted to be held accountable by my team until I could be faultless in my efforts to do it for myself. More importantly, I wanted to spend my lunches in the white plastic chairs of our break room surrounded by people that were as committed to my success as they were to their own.

From that day forward my vocabulary was dominated by a 4-letter word: work. I started my new day job by turning on the lights and starting the first pot of coffee because I was committed to the morning mastermind where our top performers developed their strategies. There were days that my enthusiasm waned but bursts of effort weren't going to work and I knew it. I was out to build better habits. If there is anything I learned from those years its that you must build a routine that trains your mind just like getting to the gym everyday will train your body.

I set six month goals and when I hit them I went back to the CEO for a merit increase. That meant I had to do the work to justify that conversation.

If you want it bad enough you will work hard enough. That’s the secret. Its simple, but it isn't easy. Find the people that will push you to do more than you think you need to do and in return, do the same for them.

Hats off to guys like Gary Vee for killing the fairy tale about overnight success and for wearing his grueling work ethic with pride.

When I’m in the office these days rolling up my sleeves at half past seven I know I’m not the first person here. There’s a group of sales reps in the conference room down the hall that left last night later than I did and got here today earlier than I did. APPLAUSE.

I admire their commitment, but I doubt they care. They aren’t here to impress the boss. They’re here to serve themselves and their families by getting better at their craft.

Our most tenured sales professional is in that conference room every morning alongside our newest and they are all there to benefit from their peers. They each bring talent, technique and hustle and they each benefit from their shared dialogue about the market, objection handling, and goal setting, but with 17 years of hindsight I know they are doing much more than learning to sell. They are investing in their own personal growth. They are practicing accountability and executing on their personal drive. Those are the things no boss can help you with.

Hats off to Mark Mattingley for making that morning meeting his priority for 21 years.

There are a lot of people that job hop to get pay increases. In the world of sales there are also a lot of people that job hop to survive after missing quota. Mark has never done either. He's proof that experience and relationships pay if you can keep changing before you need to. He gets up early to get after the day every day. He doesn't count on the work he did yesterday to carry him. He doesn't count on knowing the answer just because he's been around since before the question existed. He's two decades in and he still puts in the work to succeed on purpose in his tireless effort to become the master of his universe.

In a typical business, tenured employees could be a little anxious about the new guy because he's hungry and eager and full of new ideas. Don't be typical. Mark keeps our newbies on task just as much as they do him.

Almost four years ago Don Hutchinson came in as a rookie with no prior experience. He was encouraged to join the morning meetings to get up to speed and he still makes it to the war room everyday.

In his words, "We do it to become better and become more, to develop the skills that allow us to be in control of our own destiny. No one can take away the skills that we develop, the person we become. We’re taking ownership of our success, we’re taking ownership of our lives, we’re going to be the best we can possibly be. We like to call it extreme ownership, the no excuses mentality. We want to get as much as possible from the day, and not just get through the day."

His work is paying off. Don just earned himself one of the most prestigious sales blocks in our company and he's paying it forward by sharing his success strategies every morning with the new newbies.

Find your Mark and your Don until you can be one for yourself. That's true in everything you do in life, not just your sales career.

I think about my wife and her early years as a mother. Life was feeding and changing and burping and napping our little ones. She was hustling just to get by.

Alyssa gets after it so over the years she's found smart ways to guide our girls and protect them in life. She's built a network in the community and has taken thoughtful leadership roles like serving on the executive board of auxiliary for the girls' school. We are surrounded by people that influence us in ways that make us an even stronger family because she's put us in their path. Alyssa's working today for our success tomorrow and she's pushing me to do the same.

So that's it. Seek out the people that have common goals, especially the ones that are a few steps ahead of you and a few steps behind. Look for the ones with discipline and focus and then hold each other accountable.

A guy named Darwin coined the term 'natural selection' and its the exact reason the disciplined ones will be around for the long term. Find them. Become one. Succeed with purpose.

If you've got a unique take on the sales and insurance industries, message me. I'm looking for professionals that want to share their knowledge and insight for the benefit of our community.

Remember to Connect or Follow to get #InsuranceInspired in your email every week.

For prior articles on Narrow Networks, Charity, Work/Life Balance, Who's Buying Who, Ancillary Exchanges, Masterminds, Mentorship, or the Abundance Mindset, see my prior posts.