Last week we looked at Rory Vaden’s book “Take the Stairs,” and if you recall, he defines
how the lack of success is attributable to three issues: FEAR, Entitlement, and Perfectionism. Again, I ask you to show me someone not having success with their sales results, and I will point out one these issues at play.
As presented by Vaden, in our society’s escalator mindset, we believe we are entitled to an easier life. We want someone else to do the work for us, to solve our problems, and to give us what we want. Entitlement is a dysfunction that gets in the way of reaching our dreams and full potential. The moment self-entitlement engages is the same moment self-discipline disengages. I have heard a lot of different reasons from the field as to why sales numbers are not were we want them to be, here are a few: “I will wait until the product is perfect before I sell it to my customers…”; “We need a better price to sell this product…”; “The VAT committee won’t let me bring the product in for evaluation…”; “The company needs to change my quota because it’s unattainable…”; “Why am I being held accountable for my results when it’s not my fault I had an unfavorable evaluation?” In other words, I am not responsible in any way for my results, someone else needs to fix my current situation, and someone else is responsible for my results. The irony is that we can see some sales people facing the same issues, yet still they find a way to get their products into the hands of surgeons and earning nice commissions.
I want each of you to be successful, but I want you to reflect on your behaviors and try to see more clearly that entitlement gets us nothing, whereas action is the only thing that brings achievement. This does not mean that things will be easy; success comes to us by working harder, making sacrifices, being more focused and being more committed! I love this quote from Vaden, “Entitlement is the end of achievement. Reject it!” Get up, get busy, find a blue “H,” get in the OR, find a doc, pitch your product, and close for action. If you are able to do these things you’ll reap the rewards of your success, whether you define success by receiving a great commission check week after week because you targeted the right surgeons, or by the feeling you get when you know you are starting a movement by getting an innovative product into the market.
