You Gotta-Wanna
I let the class know that their sales manager will always be trying to help them to be a better salesperson. Naturally, in order for the sales manager to look good to his boss, the salespeople must do good first. The manager has every desire to see his salespeople succeed.
The manager will do continuous training and hold many sales meetings. They will talk to you about your deals. They will point out where you could have done a better job and will pat you on the back when you do a good job. But all of the manager’s help and coaching will not do a lick of good if a salesperson lacks Gotta-Wanna.
To me, Gotta-Wanna feelings are an internal energy that gets me to perform at my best. The key word is performing. Everybody wants. Gotta-Wanna means putting yourself into motion striving for the goals that you have set out for yourself.
Nobody can make anyone have Gotta-Wanna. All the help and advice in the world will do no good if the desire to do better is not there. But even desire will fall short if it is not put into motion. It takes both to make the most of the day.
I like to tell the class about the rabbit and the wise old owl. The rabbit was constantly being chased by a wolf. Finally the rabbit asked the wise old owl what he could do about the wolf. The wise old owl replied, “Simple, turn yourself into a tiger.”
The rabbit thought how brilliant the wise old owl was. “Of course, if I was a tiger, then that ole wolf would not mess with me. How do I turn myself into a tiger?” the rabbit asked the owl.
“Rabbit, it is my job to come up with the advice. It is your job to implement it.”
The point to this story is that all the advice in the world will not do any good if the salespeople do not turn themselves into the tiger of implementing.
If you have someone with a Gotta-Wanna attitude that you are sharing your good advice with, and they implement it, you will normally see good results, or better yet good efforts. We can’t control the results, but we can always control the efforts.
Everybody has the potential to be his or her best, but it takes a Gotta-Wanna attitude in order for that to happen. However, the day can be very unkind at times. When deals aren’t flying out the door, the worst part is not that sales are slow. The worst part is that it can drain many salespeople’s Gotta-Wanna.
Catching salespeople whose Gotta-Wanna is fading should be a top priority for the sales manager. Many times a short pump up conversation can make all the difference in the world and keep them out of a slump. Like I said earlier, in order for the manager to look good, the salespeople must do good first. If the salespeople are doing well, then I am positive the sales manager is, too. I have semi-jokingly told several sales managers that when a professional team is not going well, they don’t fire the team. They fire …
This is the eighth part in a series about training new hires. To find the other blogs in this series, click here.
Steve Lemco is the youngest brother of the late Ed Lemco and has been doing sales training and hiring for motorcycle dealers since 1983. He is the author of three sales books, the new “Training and Hiring New Salespeople,” “Motorcycle Sales Made Easy” and “You Gotta-Wanna.” Steve has trained in every state in the U.S., as well as England, France, Australia and New Zealand. Steve incorporates motivational boards and games along with his training and hiring because he believes the best way to get the job done is to make it fun.
Contact: stevelemco@aol.com
Website: www.stevelemco.com
Phone: 253/826-6110