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positive way. What good is it in the long run to have
great closing skills if you are never in the presence of
good prospects? What good is it to have excellent prod-
ucts and services if you can t get appointments? What
good is it to have a good prospect if you can t ask for the
business? Notice, I didn t say ask for the order, but for
the business.
You can experience a sales slump in any one of these
areas. Regardless of the issue, the results will general-
ly be the same. Low sales. Low margins. Lost cus-
tomers. Vulnerability to competition. Cutting prices
to get the business, and so on.
If you are experiencing a slump, you can t just look
at the big picture. You must look carefully at your
approach, strategies, strengths, and weaknesses in each
of the five categories. You must learn to ask yourself the
right questions if you hope to get accurate information
that will help you out of this negative sales period.
Knowing the characteristics and causes of the current
situation will help you prevent future slumps.
Turn It Around
Recognize that there will always be ups and downs in
your career.
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MISTAKE #23: Lacking Clear Goals
There is one major reason for setting goals: goals give
your life direction. Daily direction, weekly direction,
and yearly direction.
Don t be attached to the outcomes only the
process. One example: diets. The key to achieving and
maintaining your ideal weight is to not take in more
than you can burn off. That s it, folks. Eating carrot
cake every night and not exercising is moving in the
wrong direction. You can t reach your ideal destination
(your goal weight) if you travel in the wrong direction.
What direction are you moving in as you travel
down the highways of your life? We are all on seven
highways: financial, familial, spiritual, mental, profes-
sional, social, and physical. One of the biggest mis-
takes most people make as they travel into their future
via each of these highways is to sacrifice one for anoth-
er. Another common mistake is not understanding that
avoiding one of the areas will cause an interruption in
all of the other areas at some point in the future.
There are seminars, books, tapes, videos, and cours-
es on how, why, and when to set goals. Some say write
them down, some say commit them to memory. I am
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not going to take issue with any of these authors or
speakers. I only ask you to consider one simple con-
cept: are you moving daily in the direction that will
land you where you want to be if life gives you enough
time? If you are not, change course. Now. Our lives are
nothing more than the accumulation of moments,
days, weeks, and years. Destiny is the result of all of
this daily stuff, so pay attention to it.
Turn It Around
Spend routine time in goal-setting activities.
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MISTAKE #24: Letting Your Ego Get
in the Way
The ego wants to make you look good, keep you in
control, and manipulate people, events, and life. It
needs for you to be right. If you want to be happy and
successful, you need to control your ego, not the other
way around.
People whose lives are ruled by their egos tend to be
filled with conflict, anxiety, stress, frustration, disap-
pointment, and emotional game-playing.
Blame, resentment, anger, fear, and guilt are just a
few of the emotional tools these people use. They are
rarely ever truly happy. They might have fame, power,
wealth, good looks, and lots of toys, but most of them
secretly know they are not really happy. Now, there are
many people who have these achievements and do
enjoy a happy existence, but it s not because of those
things. They would be just as happy if they lost any or
all of them.
Your soul wants what is your ultimate highest good.
Your ego wants to look good, be in control, and protect
itself. The ego tends not to like vulnerability and reality.
This sets you up for hurt, pain, and rejection.
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One way to see if your ego is out of control is to
look at how much conflict, disappointment, and stress
you have in your life. These are often good indicators
of who is in charge your ego or your heart. Your
heart wants only to be happy, your ego wants you to be
right.
One of the biggest problems for many people is
making the eighteen-inch journey from living their life
from their mind to living their life from their heart.
How are you doing?
Turn It Around
Keep your ego out of the sales process.
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MISTAKE #25: Not Managing
Your Stress
Stress in life is normal. Everything causes stress. There
are positive things like getting promoted, getting mar-
ried, relocating, starting a business, winning the lot-
tery, retiring, having a baby, and any number of such
things that cause stress. There are also negative things
such as failing, getting fired, getting a divorce, missing
a deadline, having a baby, getting promoted, starting a
business, winning the lottery, death of a loved one, and
relocating. Did you notice that I repeated some of the
items in each list? Not a mistake, folks. Stress is not
about what is happening, but how you respond to
those things.
Stressors are not positive or negative. A relocation
can be positive for one person and negative for anoth-
er, as can a promotion and all of the other things I
mentioned, as well as other situations. How can the
death of a loved one be interpreted as a positive stres-
sor? Personally, I don t know of anyone who wishes for
the death of a loved one. But I am confident that
somewhere out there in this world there is someone
who will be relieved when a sick relative finally passes
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away and their loved one no longer has to deal with the
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