Radical Growth Materializes By Committing To Taking The Road Less Traveled.

Spend any amount of time in sales and you will be faced with situations, roads, decisions, courses of action and changes that are unpopular and unfamiliar.

Katie Couric once said,

"Be fearless. Have the courage to take risks. Go where there are no guarantees."

Are you fearless with your sales career?

Are you going where no other salespeople have gone before?

As you embark on these sales journeys, your courage, your trust in the process and your commitment to your vision will be tested.

The road less traveled is quiet and lonesome. The road less traveled is narrow because only sales professionals travel on it.

There is no need to obtain a passport to travel on this road, you must be willing to be:

Courageous - Only those brave sales professionals will travel on these roads that look nothing like the destination.

Trusting - The road less traveled means sticking to the game-plan through thick and thin because you trust the process. You're the one who oversees your process.

Patient - It takes patience, perseverance and persistence to continue on the road until the end is in sight.

Patience builds character.

Focused - In some instances, the road less traveled is not properly defined. And this is why your vision must be even more defined. Your eyes must see beyond the greenery and the shiny objects. Your mind must look beyond the low-hanging fruit.

To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson,

"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."

The road less traveled... means the choices you make in life are unfamiliar and uncertain.

It refers to a choice that leads someone to choose an indifferent approach, a new path in life or to start a new trend. It's about the choices you have never experienced.

At the end of Selling from the Heart, I leave you with my favorite poem by Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken",

To set this up, let's look at the ending of the poem...

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

In the poem, there is someone standing in a yellow wood with two distinct paths before them. They ponder for a moment both paths and finally choose to take the one less traveled. Thus, they prefer experiencing something new without worrying about the consequences.

What sales road are you taking?

I believe sometimes one must take a diversion from the conventional road to sales success.

Following all the other salespeople, or the same old sales routes may not lead you to new destinations, new experiences, new opportunities or new clients.

Even if it makes you nervous, you must step out of your comfort zone and take a trip of discovery.

In Matthew 7:14,

“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

The road is narrow and less taken, however; this will lead you to a greater sales life.

I believe sales professionals are entrepreneurs.

Allow this quote by Ryan Lilly to sink in for a moment...

"Entrepreneurs pay the price of a road less traveled, while everyone else takes the freeway and perpetually misses their own exit."

My dear friend and mentor Dave Sanderson has been guiding me in creating my own flight plan.

Are you creating your own flight plan or are you traveling down the same road as all the other salespeople because it is safe?

Your journey begins by looking inward. Through self-assessment, awareness and reflection you begin to unpack and then repack what's necessary to take on this road to sales fulfillment.

You can have growth or you can have comfort but you can't have both.

YOUR JOURNEY STARTS WITH BEING GENUINE

The legendary actor Sidney Poitier once said,

"Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the moment."

Are you present in the moment with your clients?

In a red sales ocean filled with sales sharks and empty suits, being genuine is a monumental way to stand out.

Being real, being sincere and being honest... At Selling from the Heart, we call this giving a rip!

Can we all agree, many of your clients and future clients can sniff out BS?

Would you agree people will respond favorably and will come back to you repeatedly when they see you as being real, instead of the prototypical sales rep?

Being genuine is a rare quality. Today's world is full of sales phonies, social media darlings and virtual fake sales personas.

Sales chest puffing runs amuck inside a sales world full of empty suits.

Genuine professionals search for and discover their own unique way of pursuing their passions and purpose.

They forge an entirely new path to get to their destination.

It's about what they think and say that makes them who they are. It's what they do and how they view themselves within the sales world.

A genuine professional is guided by an internal compass, meaning they don't follow the conventional or typical routes others take to achieve their goals.

Genuine sales professionals forge their own sales path.

YOUR JOURNEY CONTINUES WITH...

BEING REAL

In a world full of empty suits and sales facades, being real and transparent is 100% nonnegotiable. I believe without this one can be labeled a commodity.

I wholeheartedly believe transparency and being real:

• Creates the foundational layers of trust
• Creates a strong positive relationship where you can build loyalty

Transparency and being real is intentionally baring your soul by showing the true version of yourself. Many in sales have lost their identity do to fear of rejection, lack of self-confidence, a broken sales heart, or lack of fulfillment.

When you’re real with yourself, it frees you of the constraints and confinements of the inauthentic world.

Genuine professionals know who they are. They don’t masquerade around as someone they’re not. They're willing to let down their guard and allow their clients see it.

Let's all think for a moment...

When you're looking to build your personal relationships, you want to learn and grow from people of values, true? You want to identify and relate to people who are honest, trustworthy and kind, true?

So, can the same be said for your professional lives? Absolutely it can. Question becomes... What's preventing you from doing it?

Phoniness is a characteristic that can be sensed from miles away.

BEING TRUE TO WHO YOU ARE

Oscar Wilde once said,

“Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”

Are you living a life that is authentic?

What does authenticity mean to you?

Are you doing what you love for work?

Are you being true to yourself with your thoughts and actions?

Think about what it means to be true to yourself.

Isn't it about integrity, beliefs, personal values, honesty, sincerity, authenticity, living by what is and what is not acceptable to you, morals, ethics, right vs. wrong, honor, no falsehood, and truth?

How many of those words would people associate with the sales world?

Those who absorb what it means to sell from the heart, live by a code of morals and values.

Being true to yourself is fundamental to living a life full of integrity.

It's your moral duty to live up to your obligations and fulfill them, this becomes your character and your brand.

BEING VULNERABLE

There's nothing more honest and courageous than accepting vulnerability, embracing it and acting from it.

Vulnerability is the driving force of connection. It’s about being brave and tender.

It’s nearly impossible to connect without it. We live for it in our personal lives so what prevents us from doing this in our professional lives?

Why have so many turned vulnerability into a sales weakness?

Without vulnerability relationships struggle. Without vulnerability how will your client relationships flourish?

Vulnerability unlocks the relational door.

It's having the courage to open up who you are to another human. It’s saying with comfortable confidence, "This is who I am!"

You will struggle to sell from the heart if you can't receive from your heart.

BEING CARING

Today's environment has become radically competitive. Therefore, you must focus on building and maintaining meaningful relationships with your clients.

• You must become genuinely interested in their business
• You must truly connect with meaning
• You must be genuine and curious
• You must genuinely give a rip

If you truly care about your clients, then they’ll care about you.

Caring will never go out of style.

I encourage you to think of the simple ways you can show your clients you care.

Do this with no expectations of getting anything in return.

Are you willing to 'outcare' the competition?

RADICAL AMOUNTS OF GROWTH OCCUR BY TAKING THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Ralph Waldo Emerson brings us home,

“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Allow the above to sink in for a moment as we bring our time together to a close.

Let's just face it, life and for that matter, your sales career, is an adventure book waiting to be written. Guess what? You're the author.

I encourage you, do not let others dictate what you are going to put inside the book.

I encourage you to fill it with your own stories. The stories that belong to you.

Will you create a new path to sales success?

Originally published on Larry Levine's LinkedIn.