Copyright: flynt / 123RF Stock Photo
For years, whenever I was in a funk. When I felt like I had exhausted all the leads in my territory, or when I thought my career was at a stalemate, I would search for ways to motivate myself. I didn't want to leave the company or the job I was in, but I was not motivated or excited every morning. After a year of pounding your head against a wall to land accounts that just aren't buying, it becomes pretty depressing...and painful.
Recently, I felt like I was in a rut with a few older customers and the relationships were now stale. I wasn't bringing anything new to help them, just reiterating the same old processes that I'd been preaching about for the last 5 years. We were just going through the motions. They were bored. I was bored. We were like an older couple in need of a "date night" or something to help us rediscover each other. And then I thought to myself,
"I should have them fire me and then rehire me as their consultant.", which seemed exciting and then I thought,
"No that's pretty stupid because you have contracts and they might actually switch you idiot!"
And again I thought, "So I'll fire myself and then rehire myself but I won't share that with them."
Which is exactly what I did. I treated them like they were a new customer, and I started asking them questions about their businesses, and their challenges. I re-engaged them and starting building a new set of tools for them to use to improve their numbers. It was exciting! Normally, I'm not a cheerleader who is out front trying to pump people up. To be frank, a lot of that is all bullshit. However, I do get excited when I can help people and we accomplish something. That's what drives me in my business and in my life. Consequently, my customers were excited as well. My renewed enthusiasm became contagious and their team took a big jump forward in sales numbers.
If you're in a funk, and you don't know how to get out of it. If you're numbers are suffering, and you're wondering what to do...consider what you would do if you were a new hire. A person just placed in the position. Without all the gestalts, that are currently preventing you from moving forward. New hires have a lot of good qualities, and some bad ones, but for this post we'll focus on the positives.
1.) Enthusiasm - Recent hires are always excited about a new part of their career. They have unbridled enthusiasm because the job hasn't broken their spirits...yet. If you start thinking what you would do if newly hired, the job can be exciting again, rather than boring.
2.) Fearless - People who are just hired, don't have fear because they don't know any better. As we get familiar with our jobs we worry too much about what might not happen instead of focusing on what could happen. If you think like a new hire you won't be as tentative. You'll be fearless.
3.) Open Minded - New hires aren't stuck in a job, in fact they just landed a new job, so they are open to any suggestions. They will try anything to improve a relationship or land a sale.
While recently training a person they told me, "I can't do that my customer will think I'm nuts."
My response was, "Well, what are you doing right now to change the dynamic? Absolutely nothing! You're doing nothing, and so this is at least something. Who cares if you're nuts."
4.) Urgency - When you just start a new job, you are eager to make an impact. When you are in a job for a while, you tend to get complacent. Particularly, if you're good at it. In medical sales, there were times when I knew that all I had to do was show up and I would land a sale. That's how good I was at my job. However, it made me complacent and I probably could have made a lot more money. Thinking like a new hire, with a sense of urgency might have brought me a lot more commissions.
Don't let the job or the environment drag you down. If you do, failure is inevitable. If you like your job and you're just in rut, then dig yourself out. I know this all seems like BS, but it can work if you just change you're mindset, and remember the days when you had just started on the job. If you think like a new hire, you just might find each day a little more enjoyable and your job a little more exciting.
Good luck!
SFTD
