Defining sales discipline

Burning the midnight oil when you would rather sleep?

Taking the extra step when you would rather sit?

Going the extra mile when you would rather stop?

Lifting up your pride when you would rather quit?

We hear a great deal about discipline, but what is it, really? How do you define it? And more importantly, do you follow and adhere to your definition?

In the 33 years I have been in sales and the 20 of those years coaching and training others how to sell effectively, I have heard this word “discipline” a million times. The dictionary defines this word when used as a verb as, “to do something in a controlled and habitual way.”

Every successful person I know has discipline at their core. I recently spoke at a sales conference to about 300 people. Awards were given out at the luncheon. The top 10 percent who received some of the highest awards all had one thing in common: They were disciplined. They were willing to do what the other 90 percent were not.

Every day, they had “controlled habitual behaviors and habits” that put them in the top 10 percent. Those 10 percent would tell you that they are not any more talented than the other 90 percent. They were just willing to be disciplined and do the things necessary to be successful, even when they didn’t feel like it.

So if you are not getting the sales results you say you want, are you doing the necessary behaviors “in a controlled and habitual way?” When it’s a blizzard outside at the end of the day when you would rather go home, do you instead “discipline” yourself to get in that car and go to a networking event to possibly meet a new prospect? When you would rather call a friend or even an existing client, do you “discipline” yourself to make cold calls and prospect for “new” business instead? In other words, are you “disciplined” enough to go do the things you would rather not do, but do them anyway to be successful?