Momentum

When an aircraft takes off, a huge amount of energy is required to get it off the ground.

Aircraft use a lot of fuel and require a lot of thrust to take off. Once clear of the ground, climb power is applied. Once the aircraft reaches the cruise, thrust is set to cruise power. Each power setting is lower than the one before.

In the cruise, the aircraft has momentum – a high cruise speed is achieved with a minimum amount of power, which allows the aircraft to fly high and fast. High speed with a lower fuel burn.

Momentum is a lovely thing. It takes a while to achieve it, but once you have it, you accomplish more with less energy.

Sales careers are the same.

If you are new to Sales, or are experienced but in a performance slump, your present position is like an aircraft on the ground – you’re going to need maximum energy to get ‘off the ground’.

• • Getting off the ground means speaking to people, building contacts, creating leads, working those leads, following them up, converting them into business, and repeating the process until you see a constant flow of results.

• • Getting off the ground means consistently looking for new business – prospecting in large numbers, every day. It means diligently entering new leads into your CRM, tracking those leads accurately so that they are followed up on the days when you said you would be back in touch with those clients.

• • Getting off the ground means working on your listing presentation, perfecting it so that you win more of the presentations you give. It’s counterproductive to generate leads, only to blow them at the listing presentation.

The profession of Sales is just that – a profession. It requires study, practice, competent actions and good old-fashioned hard work. Lots of it, to get off the ground.

But once momentum is built, results seem to come a little easier, with less effort. That’s the power of momentum.

Are you still on the ground? Are you denying yourself the power of momentum?

You can do something about it. You can study. You can practice. You can get to work. Once you’ve built momentum and the results are flowing, you can reduce ‘thrust’ (effort) and still enjoy the results.

It’s work before reward. It’s thrust before the cruise. It’s effort before momentum.