Perspiration

Genius: one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration ~ Thomas Edison

I saw a question asked on a LinkedIn group I participate in “how many hours does a salesperson have to work each week to be successful?” Wow that was a loaded one! I’ll admit I stayed completely clear of the entire discussion – not even peeking at people’s responses.

Perspiration is all about the effort we put in, it isn’t that “working smart” isn’t important – rather – it just isn’t enough.

10,000 hours is how long it takes to become an expert at something, anything! Plus in the words of my Taijiquan instructor – practice makes permanent.

Which means if we are actually putting in 40 hours of effort, practicing the right techniques, focusing – it will take us 5 years to become a sales expert. Knowing that the majority of salespeople aren’t focused for every minute of a 40 hour work week; for most of us that means 10 or more years before we are truly experts at our craft.

When we talk about TeleSales in particular – remember that effort is typically measured. Those metrics might include:

• dials
• phone time
• opportunities found
• quotes
• proposals/webex meetings/etc
• sales revenue

We measure the things we can, in hopes of finding the combination that will create success. I guess the question is really – how much time can I afford to NOT be adding toward my 10,000 hours?

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work ! Thomas Edison