My first audio program was titled “Are You Lazy or do You Simply Lack Talent? I learned that line from my good friend Rich Karich. Rich and I both ran sales teams, and this was the hard-hitting, no holds barred, question we asked of underperforming salespeople. It sounds kind of harsh, doesn’t it?

It was. This was in the early nineties. We were young, brash, and full of ourselves and lived in a Glengarry Glen Ross sales environment.

Many years later, I kept that obnoxious line as the title for my program because, over time, it took on new meaning for me and because it’s true. 

If you’re failing in sales, or for that matter in anything, that line is the answer. Are you lazy, or do you simply lack talent? For me it has come to mean; do I need to work harder or learn more?

The good news is that this means that you can turn any failure around. We can undoubtedly evaluate our efforts and step it up if need be. And learning has never been more accessible. Go to YouTube and type “Selling” in the search bar, and you’ll get page after page of video offerings from experts like Mark Cuban, Gary V, and Tom Hopkins.

Here we are walking into a plump, pristine, new year. What better time could there be to step back and take stock of things?

Take a look at your results, and if you like what you see, keep doing what you’re doing. If not, ask yourself if you’re lazy (you need to step up your efforts) or lack talent (you need some more training) and then make the adjustment.

I wish you HUGE success in 21!

Own Your Sales Gene…