Industry Magazine CRM Watch Spring 2018 | Page 14

HAVING GRIT How Bad Do You Want It? HAVING GRIT I’VE ASKED this question of myself ever since I was a young boy. Today, I ask it of Entrepreneurs and Sales Professionals on a regular basis. No matter where I visit in the world professionally, the question seems to be “What is the single most important ingredient for a salesperson to be successful?” My answer is one word—GRIT. Angela Duckworth, in her best-selling book GRIT: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, summed it up as follows: “In sum, no matter the domain, the highly successful had a kind of ferocious determination that played out in two ways. First, these exemplars were unusually resilient and hardworking. Second, they knew in a very, very deep way what it was they wanted. They not only had determination, they had direction. It was this combination of passion and perseverance that made high achievers special. In a word, they had grit.” As a follow up to that, check out my YouTube 1 video recorded on a run through London. Standing in front of a statue of Winston Churchill, I recalled his all- important “never give in” speech. Nick Saban, the super-successful football coach of the University of Alabama put it this way: “You see, it’s not just about having the best players. It’s about being relentless in the pursuit of your goal and resilient in the face of bad luck and adversity.” old! Just took a little GRIT to get through the verbal bashing. At twelve years old, I took a newspaper route of thirty-two customers and a year later built it to 275. I broke several baskets trying to stuff too many papers in them and finally bought a unique bike built for home delivery of groceries. A large wheel on the back, a small wheel on “WHAT IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT FOR A SALESPERSON TO BE SUCCESSFUL?” MY ANSWER IS ONE WORD—GRIT.” So, How Bad Do You Want It? When I think back on my life, that word GRIT sure played a consistent role. Check it out. My first job was at seven years old where I made and sold potholders. I took a real verbal beating from my friends (boys) that I was doing “girl things”. Heck, I was having fun and selling my potholders for twice what the girls were and making lots of money in the eyes of this seven-year- 14 the front, with a huge basket on the front. This worked great, however it was a goofy looking bike and only came in the color purple! Again the verbal beatings came and again I reached down and relied on GRIT to get me through. A year later, I was employing five kids to deliver the papers and went on to Newspaper Boy of the Year honors. GRIT! While those kids were delivering the