Top 50 Traits of Great Sales People #34: Great Salespeople are willing to experience failure, knowing that failure can be the inspiration for innovation.
Failure will always be the first step to success. I have always told people who want success that the first thing they need to do is to get their head right about failure.
Failure is not the end but, merely, an obstacle that you have to push through in order to achieve success of any kind. Failure is the one great learning experience.
I know that I would not have any of my success if I had not been willing to make mistakes and learn from them. When I first decided to dedicate myself to becoming a Great Salesperson, I knew that I had to be willing to fail with customers by trying out new techniques to close them. I had several customers who never closed because I was failing on my part. But every time I didn’t close a deal, I would look to see what went wrong and correct that. Eventually, by learning form all my failures, I started succeeding. I was able to close customers and not get tripped up by objections that had previously stumped me.
Thomas Edison, one of the greatest American businessmen, knew that failure was the path to success and innovation. His quote: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”, shows exactly the attitude that I want people to adopt about failure.
When you know what doesn’t work, you eliminate the things that are in your way to success. I no longer have to worry about whether something is a mistake or not. I already know it’s a mistake, which means I don’t have to deal with it anymore. I can more quickly move on to the things that I know will be successful.
What was the last thing you failed on?
What did you learn from that?
How did you apply those lessons towards success?
