The champion salesman

The true motto of a champion salesman is Nitor in Adversum. To strive against opposition when active selling requires sales people to confront everyday physical and mental odds and obstacles. It is literally going against the current and sailing beyond the horizons. It is confronting every situation, big or small, in pursuit of defined objectives. It is courage that gives strength to face fear and overcome it. It is the mental, moral, physical strength. It steadies the senses in times of stress, carries them through every challenge and aids them in facing new and unknown confrontations; to be persistent with one’s positive disposition in the face of opposition.

Personal characteristics of the Highest Paid Salespeople:

·                     pride in themselves                

·                     self sustaining drive

·                     courage in the face of  great odds

·                     resiliency against rejections

·                     quick learners

·                     resourcefulness

·                     splendid tacticians

·                     optimists and enthusiastic

·                     pro-active

Professional competency of the best Sales Managers:
             

·                     Achievement Orientation

·                     Interpersonal Skills

·                     Leadership Orientation

·                     Creative Thinking

·                     Change Leadership

·                     Communication and Influence

·                     Strategic Orientation

·                     Entrepreneurial Orientation

·                     Customer Service Orientation

·                     Marketing Management Competence

They live in the present moment. They learn from the past and  prepare for the future. They keep themselves in a positive shell and avoid negative energies as doubt and fear. They have a conscious discernment or effort to improve their craft due to an innate competitive nature. They are highly adaptable easily blending with the environment they are tasked to confront. They are knowledgeable of the terrain and distinct and peculiar  conditions of their given assignments. Challenge is like a fuel to them; it rouses their senses and faculties and increases their drive. They look at life as an opportunity; everyday is an adventure of a lifetime. A grateful heart for each day that is given. A desire to live a legacy; to leave the world a better place than the one they found. They are passionately committed to their plans and emotionally resilient in times of setbacks. They are decisive when opportunity presents itself.

Sustained Initiative

No ambitious enterprise can be attained by adopting a static position. Avoid all passive and inflexible methods. Concentrate all offensive on the defined target. In planning for an initiative, never a useless move. In implementation, never a step taken in vain. Time is a resource to be valued – a week, a day, an hour, a minute even a second. Do not miss an opportunity to master your opponent lest you be mastered by him. Great danger lies in losing the initiative – like a boat that loses fuel at sea, you will be at the mercy of the waves. Have a list of initiatives at hand to be able to modify your offensive to a great number of ways. Those deprive of initiative usually lose, those who retain it usually wins.

When the enemy advances, we retreat

When the enemy halts, we harass

When the enemy seeks to avoid battle, we attack

When the enemy retreats, we attack

Mao Tse Tong, The Long March to North West China,
Sun Tzu The Art of War

No footnote in history captured the whole spirit of initiative than this excerpt from the memoirs of General Mao Tse Tong. Constantly frustrating his enemy’s plans, the opponent  is isolated and demoralized, his will to resist  is broken. A kind of initiative combined with constancy of purpose can break the moral of weaker opponents.

Rene Bitara, Prometheus Consultants