Get Motivated and Win It

Get Motivated and Win It

By Tom Woodcock

It’s 6 a.m. and you’re supposed to be dragging your lazy behind out of bed. You smack that snooze button, and again, again, and again. No use, you have to get going. Today is going to be tough. There are problems with customers concerning job issues, pricing issues, change orders, and no show workers. How on earth does one stay motivated to perform at top levels everyday under these circumstances?

We’ve all been there and suffered through those times.  Staying motivated to perform for customers, secure business, and market oneself relies on two sources, internal and external drivers. Both combine to shape our frame of mind. They can vary somewhat for each of us but there are some that are common to most.

Internal drivers are those items that are very close to our heart. God, family, and self are the bigger players with peace of mind being a close fourth. Not to be over spiritual but we all have those moments when we ponder what lies ahead for us after they put us in the pine box.  That can really determine how hard you work and play. People with a sense of eternal destiny have a bit of extra responsibility. Though this can backfire if they get too far into fate thinking and just go with the flow. It happens.  Believe it or not the next big internal driver is self. We really do all want to be happy, even though on the outside some folks act like they could care less! We cannot excel if we don’t want to stretch, grow and prove ourselves. Success follows those who strive to develop in these areas. Success in business is absolutely a byproduct of this. Anyone telling you otherwise is blinding themselves to what’s really motivating them to succeed. Proving you can win certain projects, raise job margins, and retain your current customers can bring a great degree of satisfaction. 
    
The next internal factor is family. Some of us have big families full of kids, dogs and SUV’s. We want the best for them and hope to provide a stable, fun life. This can pop us out of bed in the morning and push us to the next level.  Adding this to the first two drivers can really turn into a powerful engine. Throw in the desire to have peace of mind by not losing sleep worrying about a customer or project and you have rocket fuel.  We’ll look at how to keep these in the forefront of your mind after we hit a couple external drivers.

External drivers are numerous. These are the things outside our intimate lives that shape our days.  The easiest target is money!  If you have it, you’re in position to provide for yourself and others in a grand (Bad pun!) way.  If you don’t you have to hustle to try and get more. Aaaaaah, what a rat race. It can literally wear you out.  The problem most have with money is the level of importance people give it. When it’s tight it causes stress, when it’s plentiful it can mask the simple things of life. In business and sales it’s the measuring device. Success is in the bottom line. Discipline is the winner here.  Keeping a good perspective of what’s important but understanding the need for finances is the balance.

Another external driver is supervision. The people that manage us, direct us or if you own the business, measure us, ie: the bank, industry peers…  Positive management is always more profitable than negative. Though I’d say there are far more negative managers than positive. Many managers think yelling, cussing, and belittling will get them the results they want. Though I agree there are situations to be firm, disrespect typically backfires in the end. If you’re people don’t like you because they’ve been treated poorly, they enentually will throw you under the bus. 

Well, how do you keep motivated? Simple; use a reminder system to keep the important things in front of you. We’re all different. It could be pictures, a daily phone call from home, inspirational reading material, vacations planned well in advance, see where I’m going here? It’s important to do something that pulls your thoughts back to those internal drivers. Then you can deal with the external.  This is all so very important when dealing with your customers and clients.  They’ll sense when your motivation is low or gone. They’ll be less inclined to do business with you. It’s easy to stay more motivated when business is good, but how about when it’s slow? You need to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and kick it in gear! If you are already a motivated person then I challenge you: How high can you reach?  How many new customers can you gain? How much can you grow your business? How many other people can you motivate in your company? Go get ‘em!

Tom Woodcock is a sales consultant to contractors and contractor suppliers, who speaks to and trains contractors locally and nationwide. He can be reached via his website http://www.tomwoodcocksealthedeal.com

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