Bolt from the blue shows importance of drive
So often sales people focus too much of their attention on sales skills and believe that their mental state is not so important to their success. When we are training people in making cold calls, the frequent request is for “powerful phrases”, “clever responses” and “sentences that convince”. These are important but only secondary to the mental approach.
I was reminded a few days ago how important the state of mind is to success, more than actual skills. Usain Bolt on Top Gear in fact. For a little background, Usain Bolt is a runner who holds the world records for 100m sprint, 200m and 4×100m relay. Top Gear is a television programme about cars.
Usain recently wrote-off of a very expensive BMW in car crash from which he was luck to escape unscathed. This might call into question his ability to drive. His world records suggest he is not too shoddy at running.
When he recently appeared on Top Gear he was asked to drive a lap around a race track in an ordinary family car. Many famous people had previously performed the task and some impressive times had been set by these stars. Usain approached the driving task in the same way he did his running: he had a tangible and enormous will to win. He said as much to interviewer Jeremy Clarkson.
It was no surprise then that his time was nearly the fastest ever. He would have possibly set the record if he had not been a heavy muscly 6ft 4ins, the weight slowing the card down considerably.
Even if we factor in the possibility that he is a fast learner, there were few actual skills he could have transferred from running to driving at high speed. The main constant was his state of mind: the determination to win.
When making sales calls we need to be like highly trained athletes. We need to focus our subconscious minds on the result and allow our natural skills to align. Get the mind right, and the body will follow.