Crafting the Perfect Closer DNA: Motivation Mastery

Two Keys to Being Unstoppable

Whether you are a business owner closing your own clients, or a sales professional closing for a great organization, there are only two things that make you an unstoppable force in sales:

• Motivation
• Energy

No, skill is not on the list.

A whole lot of young, inexperienced sales reps, who can barely tie their shoes or hold normal human conversations, have made oodles of money by simply reading a script and following a process. Skill, by itself, does not trump motivation or energy.

It is important, of course, that you know what the hell you’re doing and saying during a sales call, but we’re not talking about simply making money here – we’re talking about becoming unstoppable.

Let’s break down how to create consistency in how you feel, keep your energy at peak state for as long as possible, and normalize (and uplevel) performance through thresholds and maintenance.

Sound good? Here we go.

NEVER Leave Your Motivation Up to Chance

Hall of fame athletes do not leave their motivation up to chance.

Instead, they put themselves in situations (even going so far in some cases as to manufacture those situations) where success is required and demanded of them.

In his book, “Willpower Doesn’t Work,” Dr. Benjamin Hardy puts it like this:

“It is demand that brings out the exceptional qualities of a hero. Heroes form the function of meeting a situation which demands all of his or her potential abilities. I think the ability of the average man could be doubled if the situation demanded it.”

Many people are looking for growth “hacks” for growth as a salesperson or business owner. Here’s one – albeit one that most of you won’t like:

Create an environment for yourself where growth is REQUIRED of you – and you will grow.

It really is that simple. Assuming that you’ll achieve greatness through sheer force of will is setting yourself up for eventual failure. Instead, craft the environment around you in such a way that success is the ONLY possible byproduct.

Now, let’s tackle the energy/progress cycle.

Protecting Your ENERGY

Motivation can be loosely defined as the will to win. The desire to actually break inertia, shatter the status quo in your life or business, and accomplish something.

It is made up of two equally important parts:

• Energy
• Progress

When placed together, these two parts for a cycle that feeds itself. Energy feeds progress, and progress (in turn) feeds more energy.

Energy is the strength and vitality required for sustained mental or physical activity.

“Sustained” is the key here. Lots of people can have bursts of energy – especially when it comes to sales. They’ll get on the phone and tackle half a dozen calls in a day, close 1-2, and feel like a million bucks. Maybe they can even do it 2 or 3 days in a row. On day 4, however, things take a turn. They can’t sustain that level of energy.

There are two primary things that fuel your energy – the first is your biology, and the second is your vision.

Biology is the silent killer when it comes to energy levels. We would venture to say that in about 99% of cases where a salesperson has gotten themselves into a deep rut, it was a direct result of their biology.

What do we mean when we are talking about biology?

• What you eat
• Sleep habits and patterns
• Exercise
• Water intake
• Sitting/standing and posture

“So, what I eat, how much I sleep, and whether I sit or stand impacts my ability to close clients into my program?”

It impacts your ability to do it CONSISTENTLY… yes. Remember, this isn’t about bursts of energy. It’s about sustained energy – about becoming unstoppable.

Here are a few quick tips for regulating your biology to fuel energy:

• TRACK as much of it as you can – what you eat, how much you drink, hours of actual quality sleep (there are a ton of ways to do this now), etc
• Exercise even (and especially) when you’re tired
• Stand up at least once every 30 minutes and walk around
• Keep water near you at all times during the day and DRINK IT (it’s unreal how many severely dehydrated people there are walking around)
• Avoid carbs in the middle of the day (energy crash)

Now, that might all seem very surface level, but we promise this next part isn’t. Let’s talk about your vision.

When we say “vision,” what we’re talking about is your ability to see beyond the current moment and visualize what the future looks like for you.

There are two primary risks when it comes to this:

• Your vision for your future is smaller than your current reality (thinking too small)
• You have a big vision but absolutely zero clarity on HOW to achieve it

If you’ve ever had a bad day and thought, “What’s the point? I’ve already got it pretty good. Why push any harder?” … you are probably falling prey to issue number one. Your vision is insufficient.

Zoom out regularly and think 5 to 10 years down the road. Do you want your life to be bigger, better, and more fulfilling than it is right this second? Or are you content with where you are? Always make sure that your vision for the future is BIGGER than your current circumstance. If it’s not, re-think it and reconfigure until you’ve found what drives you.

If, on the other hand, you say you want a life that is easily 10X the life you have right now in every regard, but you don’t know the math or the mechanics that would be required to help you achieve it… you are likely falling prey to pitfall #2.

Normally, this means that you’ve not stopped for long enough to THINK about it, and to plot a course. You’ve gone so far as choosing a destination and setting your sail against the wind – but with no course plotted, you’ll get blown wherever the wind decides to take you.

Carve out some thinking time and get clear on your how. Consult with others who have done what you want to do and figure out the numbers you need, the timing of each piece, and give yourself a deadline for achieving your goals. Then, don’t deviate from it until you do.

The Power of Progress

Of course, energy is only one half of the cycle. The other half is progress.

If you set out to lose 5 pounds, and you come up with a plan to wake up 30 minutes earlier each day and go for a jog until you’ve accomplished that goal, you know you’ll need energy.

Energy to get out of bed early. Energy to get dressed and head outside. Energy to job for a full 30 minutes.

However, if you get 2-3 weeks in and the scale hasn’t budged even one pound, you will lose what energy you have and default back to the baseline.

That’s why progress is the second half of the motivation cycle.

In running, there’s a concept known as the “runner’s high” – the moment when you’ve pushed past the pain and physical strain that running puts on your body and you hit a pocket of renewed energy. If you’ve ever experienced it, you know how awesome it feels. You feel like you could just keep running forever and never stop.

What if it were possible to “hack” that feeling and access it whenever you want?

The only way that you can “hack” the high of progress is through CONSISTENT BEHAVIOR. Doing the same things – things that you KNOW are capable of moving the needle – each and every day without faltering.

This plays into a concept known as the “law of averages,” which supposes that most future events will tend to correct for any deviations from the standard. In other words, any dips you experience are merely small departures from a standard which will then correct if given enough time and consistent effort.

It’s all about zooming out far enough to see it.

Here are a few simple tips for regulating progress:

• Keep a journal and write in it daily (or as often as you possibly can) – this creates a record of thoughts and feelings that allows you to spot trends quickly
• Spend 50% of your time in your journal monitoring where you’ve come from and the other 50% monitoring your trajectory for the future
• When in a rut, reference your journal and look for patterns or variables which have changed (pay close attention to environment and biology)
• Once you’ve isolated the variable – address it swiftly and monitor the results, keeping journal entries along the way. This is CONTROL.

Adaptability and Awareness

At the end of the day, the real goal is adaptability – and adaptability is only possible via awareness.

That’s why we’re hammering so hard on tracking, journaling, and reviewing both past performance and progress toward future goals.

All of this is in service of creating awareness. A complete sense of clarity around where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going.

Because, once you’ve gotten those things locked in, you have all of the tools you need to make future success an inevitability.