Attention Sales World... Are You Willing To Double-Down On These Three Basics To Climb To New Heights in 2023?

"Everything in life goes back to the basics"

Krone Gracie

Are you disciplined enough to do the things necessary for you to climb to new sales heights in 2023?

Reflect upon the following question...

Could you enhance your sales results and become even more successful, if with radical consistency you mastered the basics?

In referring to the basics, it's about the importance of allowing yourself the grace too reset.

In every discipline there is a starting position. And in sales there is a starting position.

Getting back to the basics serves as your starting point and quite possibly your reset point.

The Urban Dictionary defines, Getting Back to the Basics as,

"If you talk about getting back to basics, you are suggesting that people have become too concerned with complicated details or new theories, and that they should concentrate on simple, important ideas or activities."

Let that one sink in for a moment.

To quote the legendary Jim Rohn,

“Success is neither the magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”

DO NOT IGNORE THE FUNDAMENTALS

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

-Bruce Lee

Basic skills are ultimately the foundation for most disciplines. The same applies to the sales world.

Without mastery of the basics, how could you hope to do anything which requires greater attention, energy and effort?

When you turn your back to the basics, you've turned your back on yourself.

Check out this quote courtesy of Idowu Koyenikan,

"Opportunity does not waste time with those who are unprepared."

How prepared are you for what 2023 has in store for you?

How prepared are you for what your clients may have in store for you in 2023?

How prepared are you to grow your sales in 2023?

Getting back to the basics, it's about embracing the fundamentals.

Here’s a quick story about getting back to the basics. In 1960 the Green Bay Packers lost the National Football League championship to the Philadelphia Eagles.

On the first day of training camp, the following season after their championship loss, coach Vince Lombardi, as author David Maraniss shares in the New York Times Bestseller, "When Pride Still Mattered : A Life Of Vince Lombardi", "Vince Lombardi began a tradition of starting from scratch, assuming that the players were blank slates who carried over no knowledge from the year before. He began with the most elementary statement of all. ‘Gentleman,’ he said, holding a pigskin in his right hand ‘this is a football’.”

To continue, Vince Lombardi, then uttered these famous words, "Football comes down to only two things: Blocking on offense and tackling on defense.", and those were the basics his teams spent 80% of their time on in practice.

What soon followed was the methodical compliance to those fundamentals. The Green Bay Packers learned to block and tackle. They studied the entire playbook, no exceptions and no excuses. All this culminated in 1961, as Green Bay defeated the New York Giants 37-0 to win the National Football League championship.

How many of you spend 80% of your time practicing the basics?

STOP THE EXCUSES!

“Champions are brilliant at the basics.”

John Wooden

Unfortunately, the sales world is full of impatient and short-sighted people. Way too many of you love chasing shortcuts, automation magic and excuses; before mastering the fundamentals.

Legendary coaches as mentioned, Vince Lombardi and John Wooden, coached, preached and held their teams accountable to the basics. What say you?

John Wooden had a trio of rules,

"Don't whine, don't complain, and don't make excuses. Do your best. And when things go wrong: don't whine or complain or look for blame, just keep moving forward."

The greatest skill you can master is simple... just do the work. And it is for this reason, most of you don't need more time, tips, or tactical strategies. You just need to do the real work and master the basics.

Are you willing to double-down on the fundamentals and the basics that will ultimately lead you to sales success?

Here is some stone-cold truth, most of you in sales will avoid the fundamentals just like the plague because you don't have the guts to become great at them.

This requires you to check your ego at the door, set aside your fear, turn a deaf ear to what is being said inside the sales bullpen, and for that matter, stop listening to all the social guru noise.

Amazing things start to happen when you eliminate the unnecessary crapola and excuses.

"The secret to renewal and true confidence is simple: Get back to the basics."

Tim Sanders

Stop the magical mystery sales tour in 2023. Stop letting your ego and excuse making get in the way of what must be done.

I know how hard it is for you to say,

“I’m focusing on the basics, but guess what, I haven't made much progress on them yet.”

How many of you will commit to doing the basics in 2023?

SUCCEED WITH THE BASICS

Your success in 2023 depends on how well you commit to mastering the basics. Are you willing to make the basics nonnegotiable?

I want all of you to stop for just a moment, look into the mirror, and recite... I will make the basics nonnegotiable in 2023.

Regardless of the sales language of your company, the company culture, the products, or the industry; mastering the basics becomes the key to your sales success.

Hold yourself radically accountable to the basics.

Success is more than circumstance or coincidence. Success does not just happen. It begins with the basics.

If you struggle to do the little things right, you will struggle to do the big things right

Basics, it is the universal language of businesspeople and language many in sales must comprehend.

Basics provide the foundation for all sales success.

Together, let's all think about this for a moment...

We are asked to give “basic ideas,” “basic info,” or “explain it to me like I’m in elementary school.” We break down things into basic, bite-size chunks, so wouldn't it make sense to train ourselves in the same manner?

Why do we overly complicate sales?

I believe applying the basics in 2023, will allow ordinary salespeople to achieve extraordinary results. It paves the way for sales reps to become sales professionals.

Believe in the basics, execute the basics, and succeed with the basics.

At this point, you might be asking yourself, "What are these three basics?"

Follow along with me as I reacquaint you with these three basics for 2023.

BASIC NUMBER ONE - READING

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, you more places you will go.”

Dr. Seuss

Reading is one of the most important habits you could possess. Reading plays a pivotal role in one's life.

Think about the impact this has your ability to learn more things, think in a different manner and to enhance your knowledge. It expands your mind with facts and informational pieces.

• Reading is essential
• Reading strengthens your brain
• Reading improves your vocabulary

Therefore, imagine what you can learn through reading.

As you read, your mind becomes engaged. What you read can influence your conversations.

Think about how this can help you drive better business conversations with your clients and advance new opportunities.

I'm a simple math kind of person...

Let's say you read 30 pages of a book every day during the week, now follow along with me... This equates to...

150 pages per week (take the weekend off) - Imagine each book is 200 pages

This is three books per month and by the end of the year this is an astonishing 36 books!

Leaders are Readers, Readers are Leaders

How well are you leading your clients and future clients into business betterment?

Feeding your brain will kick start conversations. Let's take this one step farther... Start reading the books that the people you want to communicate with read. How do you find this out? You simply ask!

An educated mind brings ideas to the forefront and thus gets invited to the business table, isn't this what you want?

Sales reps sell products. Sales professionals deliver ideas. Ideas come from reading.

Imagine the conversations you could start with your clients... Imagine the knowledge you could impart on them... Imagine how they would view you. Imagine the additional opportunities you could uncover?

A mirror moment for you...

• Are you driving engaging conversations with your clients?
• Are you reading to learn? Or reading to brag?
• Are you sharing what you're reading?

Reading provides sales professionals the fuel they need to engage in competent conversations

Give your clients a gift in 2023. Give them your knowledge and insights based upon the books you read.

BASIC NUMBER 2 - WRITING

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

Stephen King

Why is writing essential? It’s the fuel that drives communication. Writing is the framework of communication. Clear communication combined with good writing facilitates how we connect with others.

How well you communicate becomes critical to your sales success. How well you write about catapults your success.

A few years ago, Josh Bernoff, author of "Writing Without Bullshit" published this article on the internet, "Bad Writing Costs Businesses Billions" -

"I emphasize the importance of writing by quantifying the annual cost of poor writing to U.S. businesses at $396 billion—and that could be an understatement of the effects of poor writing skills."

Josh Bernoff further reinforces the importance of writing,

"People use jargon to impress other people—but for each person you impress, many others are just confused. Clear, plain language communicates better, is easier to consume, and is more likely to get its point across to more people.

Writing opens conversations. Writing further attracts your clients and really attracts your future clients.

Here's an idea to fuel conversations...

Gather the top questions you're asked, or you hear from your clients during your meetings and answer them in short format social posts or create short articles.

Lastly, think about all the notes you take during conversations... Turn these into short bite-size stories as you enter them into your CRM.

Potential opportunities could open as those doing research online could end up engaging with your content.

There is power in reading, when combined with writing, this becomes a 1-2 growth catalyst

Lastly, no one can write your sales story, so write it yourself. Rise above the noise. Rise above mediocrity. Rise above all those unwilling to do the work.

BASIC NUMBER 3 - ATTRACTION

"The mind attracts the thing it dwells upon."

Napoleon Hill

My dear friend, Mark Hunter (The Sales Hunter) in his bestselling book, "A Mind For Sales" shares his beliefs that our, "Reputation arrives before we do".

Let's stop for a moment and think together... Where does trust and credibility sit inside the sales world today? People, it is anemically low. Your reputation and how you carry yourself with congruency, both online and face to face becomes a magnet, a true attractor.

Many of you might be wondering... Is attraction a basic? In the world we live in today, attraction absolutely becomes a modern day basic for all those in sales.

Inside a digitally driven, highly connected and socially networked business world...

How well are you leveraging attraction and influence to assist you in kick starting business conversations?

What are you doing to attract people into conversations with you?

You must leverage content as conversation bait to help facilitate business conversations.

How well you reel in conversations will determine what happens to your sales funnel.

All this content comes from the ideas you get through reading, then sharing the ideas through writing.

What can you do with the law of attraction? How does this fit into your prospecting approach? Position yourself and leverage the power of social to kick start conversations.

Gandhi once said,

"A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes."

As you connect and engage with your audience; share with them what you're reading, educate them through your writing and guide them in the right direction. And this would be you!

Point them to your LinkedIn profile. This is where you can promote your story, how you have helped your clients and what somebody can expect when they engage with you. 

The transition to fruitful conversations blossoms.

Are you willing to do the work?

THE BASICS AREN'T SEXY!

Swallowing your pride, dedicating the time and having the discipline to get the basics right is invaluable.

Practicing the basics, it is easier said than done. Quite often, the basics are, well basic.

Chasing shiny bullets, short cuts and get rich sales schemes on LinkedIn with the least amount of work, doesn't pan out in the long run.

Reframe your attention in 2023, get back to the basics.

I will leave all of you with this quote from Garrison Wynn,

"Most of us forget the basics and wonder why the specifics don't work"

My challenge to all of you... will you be willing to refocus your effort? There's work to do and it starts with sales 101.

Originally published on Larry Levine's LinkedIn.