Do you remember when you started out in sales? What was your first week or month like? I remember like it was yesterday. I wasn't really sure what was going to happen or what I was really suppose to do. When the stock market opened at 9:00 am. I thought the phone was going to start ringing with people wanting to buy stocks. How wrong I was. I remember being really nervous, scared, unsure, and confused. As I stared at the quiet, non -ringing phones, I realized I was suppose to pick up the telephone and start making outbound sales calls to executives and try and sell them some stock. Now what?
Prior to becoming a stockbroker I delivered official documents to businesses in downtown Minneapolis importing goods into this country. As I walked through the skyways each day delivering the necessary documents I would pass by a local brokerage firm. Looking through the floor to ceiling windows I would watch the stockbrokers on the phone, in their three piece suits, hammering away on the phones with the tape of the New York Stock Exchange flashing across the screen in the background. I thought to myself, how exciting. What a great job to buy and sell stocks and bonds all day long. Little did I know at that time that six months later, I would become one of them.
So here I was my first day, my licensed cleared and I was ready to start buying stocks and bonds. One small problem. The phone didn't ring. I waited and waited and waited. Nothing. It was the moment of truth. As I observed my peers picking up the phone and making outbound calls, I noticed how excited and enthusiastic they were. It was almost like being at revival or something like that. It was almost surreal. What was I going to do? As I sat there pondering my next move, I thought why not model excellence. I remember asking a couple of the top producers if I could sit and observe and listen to their phone presentations. They agreed. I sat quietly and wrote down word for word what they said. I observed and recorded everything with great enthusiasm. That was the key to their success. They were enthusiastic about what they were selling. I thought to myself, I could do that. I could overcome my fear by being enthusiastic and excited. I could fake it until I made it. I could act as if I was successful.
I will never forget those first couple of days. It was so excited. Within one full week as a stockbroker my enthusiasm took me from $425 per month at my previous job to over $475 in commissions in just a couple of days. I was so excited. Enthusiasm overcame my nervousness and fear. I used my nervousness and fear as a weapon. I used it to my advantage. My first month I opened up over 35 new accounts and made over $3,000 in commissions and received a $250 bonus for opening up so many new accounts. Within eight months I opened up over 180 new accounts and yet I still knew very little about “sales”. But I did learn the secret: it was enthusiasm! By being excited and enthusiastic my prospects and clients got excited as well.
Are you struggling in sales? How do you expect your audience to be interested in what you are selling if you don't put some excitement into what you are saying? Over the years I have seen hundreds of salespeople fail because they lacked enthusiasm. I believe that enthusiasm in one the greatest single factors in becoming successful in sales.
Force yourself to act enthusiastic and you can't help becoming enthusiastic. The whole world is your stage!