Show Your Sales Grit

Someone I once admired confided in me that one key reason they’d earned business plaudits was because they had “grit”.

At the time I was struck by the specific choice of word.

Their subsequent colour defined this as ‘I get up, I get going and I do what needs to be done’.

I thought not long after on entertaining mnemonics.

Get Running I’m Trouble sprang to mind…

Then another New Year initiative to help youngsters get proper entry level jobs hit the media.

Apparently, employees spend scarily little time assessing CVs for such roles.

Nine seconds.

Ouch. Even it seems when the position is an unpaid “work experience” intern-style one.

The face of this particular campaign is a Dragon’s Den investor, Piers Linny.

He was fairly positive as you’d expect. Urging candidates with no job track record to always think on something extra you can do. And there is always something.

Even when barracked about mowing lawns for their parents being the extent of it, he riffed on neighbours gardens, spreading the joy across the community. Make something happen.

His sign off was a dismissal of negativity around lack of employment history.

The number one reason for success – and he suggested many a survey found so – is…

Grit

…your determination to succeed.

I see this could well be the word de jour.

I noted soundbites of last night’s annual American state of the Union speech by Obama featured this paragraph;

“America, for all that we’ve endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this:
The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.”

We often think we’re doing all we can.

But are we?

Sitting back waiting on leads to hit our desk?

Happy with the volume of our pipeline?

Who in our target market doesn’t know me from Adam?

Each prospect see us as a trusted advisor?

Know which doors will be ajar tomorrow?

…Where’s your grit being shown..?