Quote of the Week

Hey check out our new feature called “Quote of the Week.” In no other profession other than sports and politics are quotes so prevalent than selling.

So here is the first quote with a little commentary to keep the post at a respectable length. It comes from the most irreverent sales gurus Jeffrey Gitomer. In his book the Little Red Book of Selling Gitomer threw this gem out:

“The more you watch TV the more the competition will kick your ass.”

You’ve got to love the directness don’t you? The only way you wouldn’t, or think the contrary, would be if you were a couch potato posing as a sales professional.

Just to clarify, I watch television. I watch Meet the Press, 60 Minutes, Studio 60, Lost and every college football game I can during the week. Thanks to TIVO, I can watch the first four programs whenever I want to and without neglecting my “familia” obligations.

College football is different… when it’s on, it has to be watched!

Back to the quote – Gitomer, master of the eloguent statement nails the challenge many people struggling in sales are facing. When you watch ESPN and the same game is recapped more than once, you're watching too much television. If you watch the local news in your hometown, your watching too much television. "What about the local weather, I have to know if it's going to rain tomorrow!" Check it out... http://www.weather.com/.

Television isn't the only challenge salespeople face. It could be going to the movies in the middle of the day, going to the mall in the middle of the day or any other non-productive endeavor. If you're doing it during selling time, your bound to get crushed by the competition.

If you watch television or do other non-productive matters when you should be making yourself into an "industry expert" then again, you deserve to get crushed by the competition. Anyone willing to do more and become more deserves to kick your butt.

Tom Hopkins once wrote that "selling is the highest paid hard work-and the lowest paid easy work..." You can't sum up the income opportunities provided by selling better than that statement.

Stop watching and start selling. Stop watching and start learning.

TK