Don’t Give Up – Try One More Time

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” ~ Thomas Edison

I’m a huge fan of Thomas Edison, or at least of his quotes on work and accomplishments. I do wonder what he would have been like on a bad day – you know those gone-ta-pott days when you wish you could crawl back into bed and wait for tomorrow.

In my imagination, Thomas Edison was the type of guy who pushed through those days by generating activities where the doing could overcome the thinking. When bad days come, it is important to have a way to get out of our own heads – the downward spiral of thought is something we can control (that is what I believe) and it is easiest if we STOP THINKING and START DOING.

So what are some activities we can do in our sales jobs that move us forward?

• 15 minutes of research – what’s new in your industry, geography, or business?
• how does that help your prospects & customers?
• follow up: call people who bought something from you in the past 12 months with the new information that will help them.
• prospect: call people you don’t know and ask them questions to see if your new information fits in with them

Before you know it the end of the day is here and you’ve pushed past the badness… or at least the day is over.

That is what I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE about sales – tomorrow when I wake up, I can completely start over from scratch. It is a brand new day and I can control my own world.

Don’t give up – take Thomas Edison’s advice & try one more time!