Here’s one you can pin up by your desk. Read through this list every day before your first call. Go out that door with confidence every day.
1. The Look: Look like a million dollars, even if they could flip you upside down and not a penny would fall out of your pockets. It’s your look. You own it.
2. Your Swagger: It’s how you carry yourself, and it expresses your confidence. If somebody you know looked at you and couldn’t see your face, they could identify you by your walk.
3. Reinvent Yourself: Always keep reinventing yourself — that way you’ll stay new and fresh.
4. Show Up Early: On time is good. Early is better. Be known as the person who appreciates the client’s time.
5. Bring Something With You: Never show up empty-handed. Even if you haven’t opened up your briefcase in a year, bring it. Look like you belong.
6. Smell Money: It’s not about smelling money on them, it’s about whether they can smell money on you. Successful people want to be around successful people. Don’t flaunt it; just know when to expose it.
7. Invest in Yourself: Perpetually invest in your own education.
8. Know Who You’re Talking To: Do a little research on the person you’re going to talk to. Donald Sterling and the NAACP come to mind. Did they really know each other?
9. Network: Never eat alone when you can eat with a prospect or client.
10. Remember Faces: Hard to do. Need to do it, though. Name-and-face association tests can help.
11. When You Get Smacked Down: Get back up. It’s not what you lost, it’s what you kept and what you learned.
12. Visualize Success: And just as important, visualize how you’ll get yourself out of a fix and get going again.
13. Laugh: All the time. Never stop laughing. Selling should be fun. Focus follows fun!
14. Sometimes You Have to Fake It Till You Make It.
15. Be Different: Rise above the clutter. Do different things in different ways so you won’t be so predictable.
16. Be Fit and Lean: The “7/11” rule applies here — in the first seven seconds, a customer forms 11 different impressions about you and your company.
17. Listen: Listen. Listen.
18. Observe Everything: Don’t get caught with your back to the action. You want to be able to see everything and everybody.
19. Follow Up: Toughest thing we have to do in sales. We owe it to clients to follow up.
20. Be Prepared to Take Personal Hits: It’s part of sales. People are going to take shots at you. The higher you are up the ladder, the more you are exposed.
21. Heart: Make sure your heart is in your job. If it’s not, find something else to do.
22. Delete Self-Doubt: We have other people to criticize us, so no piling on yourself with self-doubt.
23. Electric: Nobody really cares what it took for you to get there. All that matters is that you’re there, so perform at your best and be electric.
24. Buzz: You are the buzz. Everybody should know who you are. Confidence sells.
25. Change: Change your words, change your world. We own positive or negative self-talk. Choose positive.
26. Attitude: The only way to change the attitude of others is to change your own. Are you always positive?
27. The Leader of the Russian Dolls: That’s you! Always hang around, research, and hire people better than yourself.
28. Sustainability: We have cycles in sales, up and down. Stay up and sustain yourself.
29. Know How to Do an ROI Worksheet. No excuses. Media has become all about ROI. Know what it is and how to show the client.
30. Know What You’re Worth: Once you undercut your value, you’ll tend to do it for the rest of your life.
31. Don’t Let the Rats Eat the Poison Cheese: Keep bad vibes out of the sales department.
32. Develop Your One Sentence: What do you stand for and who are you? In one sentence.
33. Find Your Aristotle: Who is your mentor? Stick close to them.
34. Flying by the Seat of Your Pants: It’s OK sometimes, but it’s not good all the time.
35. Your Friends: You don’t have to call them all the time. Stay in touch, though, and not just when you need them.
36. Start a New Success Story: It’s never too late to learn new things. Learn new things.
37. Watch Cinderella Man: Even if you don’t like boxing. We all have a little Jim Braddock in us.
38. Tired Is an Excuse: Get a better excuse.
39. Make Stuff Happen: Remember, it’s up to you to make it a great day!
40. Pay It Forward: You will learn from others. It’s your duty to do the right thing and help build a better company.
Sean Luce is the head international instructor for the Luce Performance Group and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com or www.luceperformancegroup.com. His new book The Liquid Fire can be found on Amazon.com.