Success at selling is analogous to many of life’s situations. If you are willing to sacrifice early on, you will position yourself for the long term and greater reward. Paying the price early in your sales career is a lot like raising children. Spend time with them when they are young; teaching, training, guiding, directing, correcting, disciplining, and doing every other constructive thing ending in “ing”, and the day will come when the children will be self sufficient and an asset to the community. If you don’t attend to those activities when they are young, the children will be a burden to both you and society in the long term. You can pay the price now (in the short term) or you will surely pay the price later (for the long term).
I was doing some research the other day regarding the relationship between incomes and education. The results were quite interesting. According to the study (1999 data), a high school drop out could be expected to earn on average $18,900 annually. A high school graduate would earn $25,900 on average. A college graduate would earn on average $45,400 annually and a college graduate with a professional degree (medical doctor, dentist, lawyer, etc) would earn on average $99,500 annually. According to another survey, the average salesperson’s income for 2009 was projected to be $59,000. There was no mention as to whether the average salesperson had a high school or even a college degree. Salespeople who have been trained in the principles and skills of selling and who regularly apply those skills are in the top five percent of all wage earners. Two sales people I work with earn more than a quarter of a million dollars per year.
I’m currently working with one young man who was making $10 per hour last year working in a parts department. This year, having committed his time and effort to our sales training program, he is on tract to exceed the average $30,000 per year income of first year salespeople in his company by more than three times. Another young sales person who three years ago was earning about $31,000 per year will make around $138,000 this year. What made the difference with these two young men? Very simple, they took the time and put forth the effort to learn the principles and skills of selling. One seasoned (twenty-five years experience) salesperson I work with has increased his commission 636% after only one year of training. He has proven that it is never too late to learn and make a change. Imagine what his lifetime earnings might have been had he learned his trade as a young man.
All salespeople have a choice. They can pay the price of success now, later or maybe never. The world doesn’t care what people do with their careers, but if more people cared, and by caring, they paid the price for success, there would be a lot more salespeople making a six figure income instead of the average 2009 sales income of $59,000. I don’t know for sure, but I would guess that the average salesperson I train is earning $150,000 per year. Some obviously earn more and some earn less. Because these salespeople are willing to pay the price of learning, on average, they have doubled their income. What is the point of my message and what can you learn? Let me give you ten simple points of advice:
1. Pay the price in the short term for the long-term reward.
2. Just as the average annual income increases based on the years of college, so does the income of salespeople who submit themselves to training.
3. No matter what your income, you can do better.
4. No short-term pleasure is worth the loss of long-term reward.
5. You don’t have to be intelligent to make a great income as a salesperson, you just have to be diligent, committed and trained.
6. Work hard and smart and you will become a top income earner. The majority of salespeople don’t work hard and don’t make a great income.
7. As a salesperson you can choose your own income with no limitations.
8. Because of the nature of selling, salespeople enjoy a certain amount of freedom. Don’t abuse it or you will fail at selling.
9. Selling is a service industry. Focus all of your attention on meeting the customer or prospect’s needs and you will reap the greatest reward.
10. Your sales income will be in direct proportion to the application of your sales skills.
