Mark Twain once said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so.” That quote is about living a “no regrets” life.
No regrets thinking is great mindset to install into your sales organization. It produces personal happiness and increased revenues. What could be better?
Happy and quota busting salespeople!
I know from personal experience that striving for a no regrets life has opened up invaluable opportunities. One “no regrets” decision was leaving my position as vice-president of sales for a very successful company.
The company was and still is a great organization. I enjoyed my job; however, kept hearing this calling to teach and speak. Like most human beings, I was fearful of making the leap.
- What if I failed?
- What if I discovered that I didn’t really like teaching and speaking full-time?
- Why would anyone want to listen to what I had to say?
So, what pushed me over the edge?
It was an evening with girlfriends, where we were watching a recorded episode of the Oprah Winfrey show. She was interviewing a wonderful woman in her late eighties; of whose name I can’t remember. This delightful lady had lived a full, vibrant and successful life. When asked by Oprah the secret to her success, she replied,
“I never wanted to be that woman, sitting on her front porch, rocking her chair saying I could have, I should have or wished I would have.”
Boom. Her answer resonated with me big time. I realized that I’d rather fail at trying to pursue my calling rather than fail to try. That was over 25 years ago and I’m glad I made the leap. I’ve been blessed with great clients I call friends, work that I love and have authored three books.
I do not have any regrets about making the leap.
So how do you create a no regrets, risk taking sales culture?
Conduct a group sales meeting around the topic of no regrets. Ask each member of the team to identify areas in their professional life that they may end up regretting. “I should have, I could have, why didn’t I?”
Possible regrets might be:
- I didn’t pursue new markets or bigger deals for fear of rejection and failure.
- I didn’t take the time to engage in deliberate practice. As a result, I was always just an average salesperson, not a masterful salesperson, which affected my ability to build wealth and lower my stress.
- I didn’t take the time to seek out mentors and feedback and missed out on years of wisdom.
After your sales team has identified possible regrets, continue to encourage your sales team to take risks, show up and try even before they know “what the heck they are doing.” Keep the message and mindset alive. At future group sales meetings, ask members of your team to share their stories of “no regrets” and risk taking.
Their stories will serve as testimonials to the powerful lessons learned from successes and failures that lead to significant achievements.
Want to have a great sales year? Build a no regrets sales culture.
Good Selling!
