Staying energised and focused is the bane of every sales person’s existence.
Lots has been written on this topic and some of it like the Law of Attraction and many sales course you might attend talk about having clear goals.
One of the sorts of goals people have for themselves relates to buying new cars. So we pick a car to help us visualise making more sales and so earning more money.
Recently I was at the Ferrari and Maserati dealership in Waterloo Sydney talking with one of their nice sales people Tom Westlake and the photo included here is of one of the Ferrari’s Tom currently has for sale. Tom also sells Alfa’s if anyone is up for the challenge of owning one of them.
If you want to see more photo’s of beautiful cars you can check them out at http://www.ferrarimaseratisydney.com.au/
Anyway….back to how people use goal imagery to stay motivated. People think to have a lot of motivation you need to set BIG goals so they plaster their walls, there PC’s, their wherever-they-are-often places with pristine beautiful images of cars and what could be more pristine and beautiful than a Ferrari.
Then we think a few minutes each morning of affirmations and perhaps a moment or two of gratitude focus and hey presto we will be motivated to achieve more sales to get that car.
WRONG!
As a qualified Psychologist and Sales Excellence Coach of over 15 years I can tell you; your brain does not work like that. Your brain will orchestrate, on your behalf, what you REALLY want. Most of us don’t really want a $500,000 car because we cannot conceptualize actually having it in the mental frame of our current self perceptions. In plain English; the Ferrari doesn’t fit our current image of self or our current life. I’d never fit it into my garage and where on the streets of Newtown would I park it?
A highly specific goal will work to motivate you only if it is something you REALLY want at your deepest gut level and it is just outside of your current reach. So if you really want to change your car and you currently drive one worth $300,000 you might plaster your life with pictures of a Ferrari.
You need both elements for a goal to work;
- that you really want that exact thing and
- it is within your current self image.
So if you currently drive a $30,000 car and you WANT A NEW CAR then you need to start fantasizing and wallpapering your life with images of $60,000 cars. So when you ring Tom ask him about the Alfa’s instead!
PS: For those people who know me, know I drive an Alfa and am continuously moaning about how bad it is. Well the day I met Tom it was because I was in his building downstairs where the City Alfa service people are who gave me a brand new Alfa Romeo 159 as a loan car and it was MAGIC to drive. That means there is hope for the brand but mine is a lemon!
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