One Step Away...

If you’ve never heard of Anthony Bourdain, you’re either living under a rock, or have zero interest in food or travel. I’d be willing to wager he is the most common answer to ‘what’s your dream job?’ Anthony Bourdain is clearly living out a fantasy life that most of us only dream of. He gets paid to travel the world, eat delicious food, and talk shit….all expenses paid, to boot. 

I always assumed he had some romanticized back story that got him to where he is now. Truthfully, he does not. If you haven’t seen the above video, take a second and watch. 

For a while now, I’ve said you have to be somewhat of a lunatic to be in sales. Sales can be a very lonely world, with huge emotional peaks and valleys. I never thought I’d have ‘sales’ in my title, and I truly don’t feel like I’m a salesman. I consult clients…there just so happens to (typically) be a project or engagement associated with it. However, with that, comes a rollercoaster of emotions and opportunities. Staying even keel is extremely difficult at times. There are so many things outside my control that eventually lead to a win, loss, or whatever other outcome there is. 

It’s extremely easy to get discouraged. The above video’s message is moderately cheesy, but rings true. Everyone is one moment, one event, one email, one phone call, one project, one decision…the list goes on…away, from potentially changing their lives or augmenting their situation. 

In my role, I don’t have to close a high volume of deals to make big money…I just have to close a few of the right ones. Whenever I don’t feel like replying to an email, or am in some sort of sales induced bad mood, I think back to that mantra and get past it. Every email, every phone call returned, etc. is potentially leading me one step closer to changing my life in a multitude of ways. 

Intensity is something we harp on within our sales team. It's a difficult thing to teach as (in my opionion) the crux of intensity is basically caring. Huge sales numbers can seem daunting or unattainable, however, if you can get some someone to believe that they TRULY are one step away from greatness...the intensity will follow.