Persist Without Exception

We’ve all seen, and have our favorite, quotes about PERSISTENCE, right?  One of my own favorites talks about how success isn’t determined by education, or many other things — it’s persistence.

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race” (Calvin Coolidge)

Lori Raudnask of Sales Partners Worldwide is the author of Persistence Pays: How Getting What You Want is Easier Than You Think.  She offers the following article,

[I couldn't locate Lori's website, but please be sure to Google her or just head over to Amazon or your local bookstore and purchase her book]

PERSIST by Lori Raudnask

“…In business and in life, if we use the challenges that are set in front of us to shape our life, we can achieve many great things. If we see the challenges as obstacles and don’t seize the moment we will stay in the same position. I’ll give you an example.

Yesterday I was training at a one day training session where the focus was to increase sales. The attendees were franchise owners and sales reps. We gave them a challenge at lunch to go out and sell a book. It is always interesting to see what happens when this challenge is set up as I remember being given the same challenge when I was a participant at a seminar myself. Your little voice goes crazy.

As I watch the faces of the participants, in some you see excitement and some you see fear . Some participants run with the challenge and some just plain won’t do it. The result is predictable. But this really is a way of life. Some people make things happen and some watch things happen. It isn’t right or wrong, it is just a fact.

As the group came back from lunch we opened the conversation up to their experiences. Some of the participants grouped up and decided to go and ask permission at a gas station to sell the book there. They didn’t sell any books but, do you know what? They had fun and their energy was contagious as they were telling their story. Others who lived in the area visited customers and sold the book, some made phone calls to sell the book and one participant sold six books.

There are always people who will go the extra mile and not stop at selling one, they challenge t-h-e-m-s-e-l-v-e-s to see how many they can actually sell during the exercise.

Others in the group didn’t even try.

You see they let their “little voices” get in the way of the exercise. Some of their comments were, “I didn’t know enough about the book”, “I didn’t like the exercise”, “Why should I sell the book”, “I didn’t have time”, “I didn’t feel comfortable”, “I was hungry”, “I was tired”, “I didn’t know who to talk to”. What really happened is that one person within the group told another person they weren’t going to do the exercise which lead to no one in that group participating in the experience. Have you ever been in this position? Have you ever been side tracked by someone else’s negativity? In sales these are all common reasons why people don’t sell.

As we debriefed the exercise I explained that the exercise had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BOOK. The exercise was about getting past the “little voice” inside your head and just going out and meeting people, sharpening your elevator pitch, building rapport, challenging yourself to sell something and having fun. As I train sales people we discover the reasons their sales aren’t where they want to be is because they are not contacting enough people.

Networking is how you are going to increase your contacts . This is how it all starts and that is *O-N-E* person at a time. A sale is not rocket science and sometimes you don’t know a lot about your product when you go out to make your pitch.

The most important thing is to present, debrief your presentation, learn what you can do better and do it again and again and again. It is about opening your front door and walking out each day with an outcome in mind. Why are you walking out the door in the first place? Your outcome should be specific (I am going to call on 10 accounts today), measurable (I am going to sell $1,000 today) and attainable (the company average is $1,000 per day so my target is to sell at least that or more).

If we look at the formula above in order to have success we need knowledge. When we start something new we don’t have all the knowledge we need but we can work on this daily to improve our knowledge if we times it by discipline. Persistence takes discipline and when I get asked how I created success it is by increasing my knowledge and being disciplined at continued learning and growing. Have knowledge for your business and be disciplined to do something to increase your sales and productivity either by selling something, building a championship team to support you or teaching others how to sell and grow your team. Under knowledge and discipline you see fear. What is your fear of building your business? It could be fear of failure or it could be fear of success.

Persist without exception and don’t compromise your belief system and that includes your belief in yourself . Ignore rejection; let your passion take you where you need to go. Be a person of action, when in doubt take action! Listen to the guidance that is offered by your mentors or people you trust. Be responsible and make a decision to grow your business to the next level and take action to do so. Sure you may have to do all of this with no paycheck at first but if you continue pushing through your efforts will be rewarded.

I read an article recently about Michelle Obama’s role as First Lady of the United States. It is a role with no paycheck and no specific duties; however the position of the First Lady commands great influence. If your business isn’t generating the cash flow you would like think about the influence you are giving to your community as you build the business.

Increasing our business really is about being clear on what we want. When we are clear, we will have the power to achieve great things. It is about the choices we make. Many times people make choices that limit them. I have always had the idea that the choices I make really make me who I am. It is about using the talents you have been given and not wasting them. Success has a cost and sometimes we have to make a trade-off, we have to give up something in order to achieve something we are working towards. It is about being clear on why you are doing what you are doing, what is the real reason you want to meet your sales goals and dreams. Have the courage to just go for it, believe in yourself and your capabilities.