14. Commitment
Commitment A
Commitment B
Sales Reps Commit to the Top 1%
Ask a rep is she is “committed to success?” What is she going to say… no? She may even believe she is committed. But look closer.
People Always Do Exactly What They Want to Do
This rule is just as useful as the 80/20 rule in sales. The obvious argument goes like this: “I clean toilets at home and certainly don’t enjoy or “want” to do so.” The answer to this is simple, ask “then why did you clean your toilets?” They will answer that they dislike dirty unsanitary bathrooms. You then ask “so what you are saying is you had a choice but decided that cleaning the toilets was the best alternative, that you in fact “wanted” to clean your toilet?”
A rep hates cold calling but craves recognition and money. He cold calls. He “wants” to cold call. I never said this was about what people “like” to do!
A true commitment means doing things we don’t necessarily enjoy or want to do to achieve our goals. We want to run a marathon so we commit to a grueling exercise regimen that starts with 10 mile runs at 4:30 am (rain or snow) every day and then longer runs on the weekend. Also weight training and more as required to be in extreme shape and competitive. A fairy-tale “commitment” is you run when you get the chance and certainly not outside in the rain. And your wife would be really upset if you took time to run on the weekends. When traveling exercise is very inconvenient and you are too pressed for time. Blah, blah, blah…
A Little Test
Do you want to experience true commitment?
Get a piece of wood, say a 2×4. Take off one of your shoes and socks and step on the board. Draw an outline of your foot with each toe outlined as well. Buy a hand ax. Select the toe you are going to chop off if you don’t reach your goal. Mark this on the board with a red X.
If you don’t reach your goal chop off the toe. I like to have them bronzed – they make great gifts.
Rinse and repeat next month.
You have 10 months to get this right.
Do you think you have time for success now? Do you think you can make a few more calls and insist on decisions from prospects? Will you close more deals?
I thought so.
A Little Magic
But this is crazy you will say.
No it is not crazy. Because I am not finished yet. You have two minds – conscious and subconscious. Your subconscious mind cannot rationalize. It feels and understands emotions and imagery. It only exists in the here and now.
The conscious mind deals in abstracts. It understands written language and mathematics. It can project into the future or the past.
The subconscious mind only knows what it is told by the conscious mind. It will believe anything you tell it, like a 3 year old does. The trick here is to do what great actors do. Immerse yourself in the role. BELIEVE you will chop off your toe. Tell your subconscious mind that if that happens it will be its fault. Insist that the subconscious mind, and indeed the universe itself, deliver up your goal pronto or else WHACK goes the toe.
You are pissed. Sick of failure. You are not going to take it anymore! The toe is history unless you get yours. And you want what you want right now.
This will scare the snot out of your subconscious mind. It will frantically try to save the toe. It likes that toe and feels attached to it after all these years together. The subconscious mind is wired into the universe in ways you may not be able to imagine. No matter, it is and this works. I could explain and will, but not now or here.
Things will manifest. A hot lead will suddenly come over the transom. A previous customer will want to increase an order. A difficult prospect will tip over to the yes side of the seesaw.
You will reach your goal. You will be dumbfounded as to how and wondering what happened.
A critical element of this is to lucidly and graphically form images in your mind of the execution of the toe. Feel the searing pain as the cold thick steel of the ax slices through the skin, then the bone, then out the bottom. It lodges deep into the wood, The sound is deafening. Blood splatters and gushes from the wound. You feel faint and go into shock. Eventually with medical treatment you recover and limp around for weeks. You are forced to adapt to a life without the balance on that foot that only five toes provides.
You dread even more what is coming soon. Toe #2.
Adding the emotional element greatly amplifies the power of your subconscious mind. That’s why the exercise needs to be shocking. It must induce strong emotional reactions.
Now imagine in the same graphic detail your success. You reached your goal. The toe is saved! You jump for joy (made easier by the fact you toe was not amputated).
Let your subconscious mind dwell on these scenarios and decide for itself what needs to be done and what is has to do next.
If you are skeptical, good. Test it for yourself. Let me know what happens. Send me a bronzed toe!