Raise Expectations Improve Performance

Expectations are powerful. From birth we are subject to them. We are expected to roll over, crawl, walk, babble, talk and eat with utensils on a somewhat rigid schedule. If we are not on schedule, parents, doctors and specialists intervene to see what is going wrong. As we get older we are expected to act in a certain way by our parents, our friends, teachers and coaches. Some parents expect their kids to be doctors; some expect them to be craftsmen or politicians. If we decide to do other than what is expected of us, then usually there is stress involved as we try to break free from the expectation. Unfortunately this trend continues into adulthood. We absorb expectations unconsciously from the world around us. Consequently we have a certain belief about what is possible and that belief is based on our everyday experience of the world. The Optimal Salesperson® has high expectations for his or her performance.

We bring this process to our job as salesperson. We have a certain belief about how much we can earn and how much can be sold in a given year. We tell ourselves that these beliefs are reality based on the actual data. For proof we say things like: “The average salesperson in this industry makes $95,000. I think I am a little better than average so I am doing well at $105,000.” When I suggest to a salesperson who has that mindset that they should be able to earn $200,000, they explain how I don’t understand the industry, or reality or what the obstacles are that prevent that from being possible. If I point out that someone in another company is doing it, they politely explain that her situation is different because of some factor real or imagined. The Optimal Salesperson® focuses on the possibilities not the obstacles.

No one becomes a champion by accident. In every World Series or Super Bowl winning locker room the winners say “We set this as a goal at the beginning of the year. No one else believed in us, but we believed on ourselves and in each other.” You never hear the winners say “We don’t know how we got here. We never actually thought we would get this far. We would have been happy to win half of our games.” So take a lesson from that. If you are failing, expect to succeed. If you are succeeding expect to excel. And if you excel, expect to dominate. If you dominate you already do what I suggest in this article. Napoleon Hill said it best 65 years ago “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.” The trick is to set your expectation high and then believe that it is possible. Once you do that you have been trained since birth to achieve that expectation.