The Common Denominator of Sales Success

To quote Albert E. N. Gray, “The common denominator of success — the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful — lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.”

This speech given to a group on insurance sales people nearly fifty years ago has forever changed my life. For some reason, I believed that successful people were successful because they worked hard, were lucky enough to have the stars align in their favor, and had a pre-disposition to thoroughly enjoy doing the things that failures didn’t want to do. Truth be known, successful sales people don’t necessary like to do the things that unsuccessful sales people are unwilling to do. However, they know that by doing certain things they will have success, and they have a strong enough purpose in their lives to drive them to do it.

Years ago when I started my sales training company I found myself making more that a hundred cold calls each day to business owners along the Wasatch front. It was difficult and discouraging work. It was not something that I would have chosen to do, but I knew that by suffering through the calls that I would eventually find those clients that would allow me to be successful. There were two things that drove me to do the things I didn’t like to do. First, the mortgage needed to be paid and I didn’t want my wife and children to suffer. Second, I wanted my business to be successful. I had a passion and a dream that I was unwilling to let die.

Here are three steps you can take to apply the common denominator of success in your life and to dramatically improve your sales:

1. Identify a purpose in your life so strong and so compelling that you will be willing to put forth an extraordinary effort in your sales activity to satisfy that purpose.
2. Identify those activities, even the ones you don’t enjoy, that are necessary for sales success.
3. Create the habit of doing those activities on a regular basis with your eyes clearly focused on your purpose.