An Open Letter to Sales Professionals

“Believing” is useless without doing.

I am eager to make a simple point: If you claim to be a professional salesperson, it should mean something. There should be a difference in your life.

Is your day full of stress and worry? Then be happy, because when times are tough, your patience, skills and faith have a chance to grow.

If you want to know what to do, read or ask what to do, and the answer will come to you. The wisdom and knowledge are right in front of you for the taking, but when you read or ask, expect to get the answer. If you don’t expect the answers and are reading because it is fashionable or because you were required to do so, your mind will be as unsettled as the sea during a hurricane. You must have faith in yourself, and in the experience of those who have mastered the art and science of selling before you accept their wisdom.

A successful salesperson is one who doesn’t quit or do the wrong thing and is easily distracted because eventually she is rewarded with abundance for following the rules of the masters before her.

Doing the wrong thing is the will of your thoughts and wishes. These thoughts lead to being reactive and subsequently to the ultimate penalty from prospects, clients, and your management. Rejection. So don’t be misled. Belief in you is the most critical of all. Most of you believe in the techniques of selling, but believing is one thing. Faith and belief that does not result in pro-activeness are not real faith and belief.

Here is an example of real belief. Elbert Hubbard was a typical salesperson, although he did not have a title of a salesperson. In 1894, at the age of thirty-five, he retired after a highly successful soap-selling career. He later attained success as a magazine publisher, and marketer of books, furniture and other products. Hubbard believed in the possibility of the American dream and loved to share his philosophy with others. He wrote the following over time to express his beliefs.

“I believe in myself. I believe in the goods I sell. I believe in the firm for whom I work."

"I believe in my colleagues and helpers. I believe in American business methods. I believe in producers, creators, manufacturers, distributors, and in all industrial workers of the world who have a job and hold it down. I believe that truth is an asset. I believe in good cheer and good health, and I recognize the fact that the first requisite for success is not to achieve the dollar or to confer the benefit, but that the reward will come automatically and usually as a matter of course. I believe in the sunshine, fresh air, spinach, applesauce, laughter, buttermilk, babies, and chiffon, always remembering that the greatest word in the English language is sufficiency. I believe that when I make a sale, I make a friend. And I believe that when I part with a person, I must do it in such a way that when they see me again, they will be glad, and so will I. I believe in the hands that work, in the brains that think, and in the hearts that love."

Whatever wealth and fame you gain comes from all those who have sold before you. They believed in themselves and paid the price. Now … it’s your time your turn to use this wisdom to your advantage.