The Most Important Lessons I’ve Learned about Selling for a Living
by John Chapin
After 26+ years as a successful salesperson, here is what I know to be true about sales.
Six Sales Lessons
Lesson #1: If you’re looking for 9 to 5 and safety and security, sales is not for you.
Sales really is the hardest high paying work or the easiest low paying work. Top salespeople are
extremely hard workers, they get in early, stay late, and most work the weekends. While it’s true
that well-established salespeople sometimes cut back a bit on their hours and weekends, when
needed, they are still able to call upon a great work ethic and put in the extra hours. Top
salespeople go above and beyond, they answer their phones off-hours, and they are always ready
to respond at a moment’s notice.
In addition to putting in extra hours, working outside of “normal” hours, and working extremely
hard, top salespeople are able to take the ups and downs of a sales career. They are experts at
overcoming adversity and pros at controlling their emotions. They realize that sales is not for the
feeble or faint-of-heart. They know you need to keep your mental edge at all times and you must
learn to use everything to your advantage.
Lesson #2: Successful salespeople always find a way to succeed.
Have you ever noticed that the most successful salespeople are always successful regardless of
how bad the economy, the market, or anything else seems to be? Have you also noticed that
unsuccessful and mediocre salespeople are always, at best, average no matter how good things
are? 90% of your brain, the subconscious, is super creative. Successful salespeople use the
creative brain to come up with resourceful ways to increase business, get through hurdles, and
overall, become more successful. Unsuccessful and mediocre salespeople use the creative brain
to find ways to look busy, waste time, and otherwise avoid the hard work necessary for success.
They clean their desk, do paperwork in the middle of the day, or schedule doctor appointments
and other personal items during prime calling times. This is the same theory behind why the rich
get richer and the poor get poorer.
Lesson #3: Sales success or failure comes down to you.
This ties in with #2. Successful salespeople know that if you do the proper amount of the right
activities during the day, you will be successful, if you don’t, you won’t. This of course assumes
that you have a decent product and work for a reputable company. If that is the case, and you still
fail, you have no one to blame but yourself. It’s not the economy, your upbringing, or the bad
break you got 15 years ago. Many others have had it much worse than you and have been
successful; the top salespeople understand that you and you alone are responsible for your
success or lack thereof.
Lesson #4: You need to have a burning desire to succeed.
Successful salespeople know what they want for themselves and their families, they have a plan
to get there, and they will either win or die trying. They do not allow for anything other than
success. You can see it in their eyes, hear it in their voice, and sense it in the way they carry
themselves. There is an overwhelming confidence that they will achieve the outcome they desire
and they do so time after time. Top salespeople know that you can have it all and you don’t have
to sell your soul to get it, but you do occasionally have to go through hell.
Lesson #5: You are the parent of an 18 year old… and the 18 year old is you.
Any parent of an 18 year old knows how tough it can be to get them to do some things. Well,
when it comes to sales, you are your own 18 year old. Top salespeople are self-starters and have
the self-discipline to govern themselves and get themselves to do what must be done every day.
They realize that in sales you are self employed and that if you make the sales, you’ll stick
around, if you don’t make the sales, you’ll be gone. The bottom line is: if you need someone
standing over you to make sure you are doing what you have to do, you’re in the wrong business.
Top salespeople have the drive and motivation to push themselves extremely hard even when
they’re all alone.
Lesson #6: You always have to be learning and improving.
Top salespeople know that you can never know it all. There are always new techniques, new
technology, and new ideas that are being created every day. Top salespeople stay up on changes
in the industry, keep abreast of the latest sales ideas, and constantly look for ways to stay
positive and motivated. They are always looking for ways to develop themselves personally and
professionally. Top salespeople get that there is no neutral or standing still, you’re either getting
better and moving forward, or losing your edge and moving backward. They know that school is
never out and there is always more to be learned.
For John Chapin’s free newsletter, or if you would like him to speak at your next event, go to:
www.completeselling.com With over 26 years of sales experience, he is a number one sales rep
in three industries, and author of the sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia. For permission
to reprint, e-mail: johnchapin@completeselling.com.
John Chapin
# 1 Sales Rep w 26+ years experience, Author of the 2010 sales book of the year: SALES
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