A shepherd was herding his flocks in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand new SUV rolled up out of a dust cloud. The driver, a young sales consultant in an expensive suit leaned out of the window and asked the shepherd:
“If I can tell you the exact number of sheep in your flock, will you give me one?”
The shepherd calmly answered, “Sure!”
The young man parked the car; whipped out his I-Pad, surfed to a NASA GPS navigation page, printed a report on his mini printer, then turned to the shepherd and said: “You have exactly 1,117 sheep!”
“You are correct,” said the shepherd, “Go ahead and pick out the one you want.”
He watched the young man select an animal and load it into the back of his SUV.
The shepherd then said: “If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me my sheep back?”
“Okay, why not!” answered the young man.
“You are a sales consultant,” said the shepherd.
“Yes I am,” he responded. “How did you determine that?”
“Easy,” answered the shepherd. “You turned up here although nobody called you; you wanted to be paid for answering a question I already knew the answer to, and you don’t know anything about my business, because you just took my dog!”
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That’s a humorous story, but with a serious undercurrent. Before getting too far down the road, you should look in the mirror and assess whether you’ve really got what it takes to make it in the sales business. If more people would do that, there wouldn’t be so many folks walking around saying, I used to be in sales.
I’ve always said that selling is more than a job. Selling is a profession, or better yet, a craft. Regardless how you support your family, your chances of financial success aren’t real good, according to these Social Security Administration statistics.
They say for every 100 people starting careers; 40 years later…
1 will be wealthy
4 will be financially secure
5 will continue working (most because they have to)
36 will have died
54 will simply be broke!
Bottom line: 5% financially free, 95% not so much!
That’s pretty sobering. In a timely fashion you should decide where the best place is for you to have a shot at becoming a 5%’er.
Here, are some questions to help you determine if sales might be that place. If you can answer yes to at least 12 of them, you probably have what it takes. Only 8 and your selling future is a bit iffy, and could go either way. However, if you finish with less than 8 resounding yes answers, don’t even think about it. You should keep looking for a profession that is a better fit for you.
Good luck!
YES NO
□ □ Do you actually like yourself?
□ □ Are your goals written down?
□ □ Do you really love people?
□ □ Is self-discipline one of your strong traits?
□ □ Are you detail oriented?
□ □ Are you really self-motivated?
□ □ Do you want to build relationships?
□ □ Are you a really hard worker?
□ □ Do you possess lots of self-confidence?
□ □ Are you persistent, thriving on challenges?
□ □ Do you really want to become financially secure?
□ □ Can you be perceptive and listen well?
□ □ Are you an observant individual?
□ □ Is loyalty in your DNA?
□ □ Do you communicate skillfully with others?
□ □ Are you very enthusiastic?
□ □ Can you accept rejection with a positive attitude?
©2014 Robinson Training Solutions, LLC
