Control
Control is a word I heard constantly during my automotive sales career.
“Alan, you need to have control of your customer.” “You need to control the process.” “You need to keep control of objections.” “You’ve got to have control.”
But that’s not the kind of control I want to focus on today.
In order to achieve the levels of success you’re looking for, you need to learn that all you can control… is what is controllable. And when you break it down, the only thing that’s truly controllable in your life and in your selling career is you.
I’m going to use a lot of examples from the automotive industry in this post, but the principles are the same for all sales industries. If you want to be a six figure performer, the most important thing you need to focus on as far as control is concerned is yourself.
You can control the amount of energy you put into your career. You can control how you decide to schedule your day. You can control how hard you’re going to work towards making your process as flawless as possible.
Conversely, you can’t control your crabby manager who probably shouldn’t be working at the desk. You can’t control the negative attitudes of your fellow salespeople. You can’t control the crappy weather that makes waiting in the lot for ups difficult.
But you can control FOR those situations.
As an example, I’ve gone into dealerships before on a rainy day to find the entire team sitting around drinking coffee. When I throw my hands up in disbelief, they all rush to assure me that they’re not being lazy – it’s just that nobody is going to come to the dealership because of the weather. “We can’t control the weather, man!”
I have to be honest – that kind of attitude puts my back up, because to me, the solution is incredibly obvious. The first time this situation arises is also going to be the last, because I can control for it, and I’m going to make sure I have a good pair of rain boots and an umbrella at the dealership. That way, I can continue to deliver an amazing experience to my customers while keeping them dry.
How’s that for something I can control instead of throwing my hands up in the air and giving up on a day’s work?
I want to drive home the point to all of you – in all aspects of your selling careers, or the operations of your business, the only thing that you can truly control at least to the level you would love to is you and you can control your mindset. You can control your actions, how you react to different situations, how you react to other people, or how you react to the inadequate management you might need to deal with.
Are you going to just point a finger and say “Hey, it’s not my issue. The owner won’t allow me to spread my wings, so I’m just going to do nothing until he changes his mind”? Not if you want to reach the levels of success you want and deserve, and true performers understand these things.
Never forget my three laws:
- Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
- If you want to find a way you will, if not you’ll find an excuse.
- You are the problem, and you are the solution.
Let me go back to when I first started my business, around 2011. Things, of course, weren’t quite like they are today, when the phone never stops ringing. But in the infancy of my career, nobody knew me, knew the brand – knew the A.C.E., if you will. And I could not control that.
But what I could control was getting in front of as many dealers as possible to share my message, in hopes that real would recognize real, and that those who heard what I had to offer would identify with it.
I could control how hard I worked, how much I was willing to grind, how many times I was willing to walk face-first into that rejection in the name of creating the life I wanted and deserved.
So to all of the business owners, to all the sales representatives, remember: Winners point thumbs. We don’t point fingers to the million and one excuses we encounter every day that we could blame for us not being successful, or give that power to other people.
We recognize that we can control only what we can control, and if you understand this, and you will drastically be able to improve your life, your career, and your paychecks.Finally, If you are looking to create exceptional levels of success in your automotive sales career I can show you how to become a top performer in your environment!
Whether you’re a sales representative, a new business owner, or a CEO, we are all entrepreneurs. With that in mind, check out my FREE program: WX5: The Five Ws of Entrepreneurship.
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