It's Not Me, it's YOU the Shitty Product

“Honestly, it’s a shitty product.” He told me.

Last year I was coaching this sales rep who kept complaining about why he was not selling. The key perpetrator was the product.

My next question to him was, “Do you know anyone else on your team hitting target while selling this same shitty product?”

Them: "Ahhh Yea Jimmy."

Me: "So how is Jimmy hitting target and you're not?"

Them: "Ummmm well I don't know. Maybe he’s taller. Did you know tall guys are more advantaged in not only dating but also business?"

Me: “Maybe, but you’re mostly prospecting on the phone. How can they see that he’s tall?”

Them: “Ahh arrr ummm............ I don’t know. Maybe they feel it!”

In fact, Jimmy was from Croatia and had a thick accent compared to Paul’s smooth eloquent English one.

I can tell you exactly why Jimmy was hitting target while Paul wasn’t.

1.???Jimmy knew that he had no control over making the product better, but he had all of the control at making himself better.

2.???Although the product was not perfect, Jimmy believed in how the product will help the clients.

3.???When a customer ghosted Jimmy, he didn’t cry about it for a whole week, but kept fishing.

4.???Jimmy took ownership of his own learning and invested time and money to become the best.

5.???Jimmy didn’t play the victim and complain about the lack of gifts, circumstances, and talents he was not blessed with. But focused on his strengths.

6.???Jimmy wrote down his goals and had a strategy to how he sold.

7.???Jimmy set his own KPIs and was consistent with the boring sales outbound activity he had to do daily. He knew exactly the numbers he needed to hit.

8.???Jimmy focused on cultivating relationships and tried to add value in his prospect's and client’s lives.

At the end of the day, other than the bad product excuse, I come across so many excuses as to why someone is not selling.

• It’s the economy.
• The government regulations.
• The industry is changing.
• The competitor is better.
• The leads suck.
• Not enough leads.
• Keep getting ghosted.
• Not enough time.
• The CRM is too slow.
• Don’t have the right training.
• Leads are ghosting.

Yet there is always someone else who is thriving under those very same circumstances. Am I saying to sell a product that is truly bad? Or to work under unbearable circumstances? Absolutely not. But sometimes it's important to be able to discern if it's us, or the product and environment.

As cliché as it sounds, those who are succeeding in sales or any other area in business or life, focus on what they can control, and start the day with the right attitude. The story they tell themselves about why they are not selling is not a limiting one, but one about learning, and growth.

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