Sometimes a lethargy strikes our sales floor. People say things like, “Energy is low on the floor today.” Most reps are affected by it.
On these days, those affected reps have lost their day before it’s begun. Such a loss is beyond their control because they don’t determine their own success. They let external factors—e.g., the energy on the floor—determine how hard they’re going to work that day.
There are other external factors, too, such as it being holiday season, meetings during the day, your manager not giving you enough attention, etc. Non-autonomous reps have their success controlled by these external factors.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are a few autonomous, internally-motivated reps on our floor that recognize these “slow days,” holiday season, etc. as opportunities to get ahead.
Which is why you’ll see them outperform on days that everyone else underperforms. Twice the progress is made, relative to the pack, than outperforming on days when everyone else is already performing. So at the end of the month when we look at numbers it’s days like these that account for internally motivated reps rising far above their peers.
Switching into the management mindset, it’s the difference between teaching a man to fish versus just feeding him for a day.
Addressing the low energy on one day is swinging at the leaves. Teaching and reinforcing an internally motivated mindset is planting deep roots that will grow a strong tree over a whole career, even after that rep has left your team or company.