Know and Show Your Passion: Habit #8 of Successful Salespeople

I recently provided an overview of the 8 habits of successfulindependent sales agents. In that post, I gave a brief overview of the habits that are second nature for our ISO partners' top-performing agents. I'm going to dive into each habit in more detail over the next few weeks and offer tips about how you can start incorporating each one into your daily routine. I'll start at the bottom of the list with habit #8 and work my way up to #1.

Sound good? OK, let's dive in. We'll start with the most important of all the habits: knowing and showing your passion.

How to Identify Your Passion

On the surface, credit card processing and merchant services seem like an obscure thing to be passionate about. Especially considering there are so many other products and services that one could sell. Yet, the most successful sales agents understand and believe in the value of the services and solutions they're offering.

Ask a handful of top-performing agents why they do what they do and each will have a different answer. Sure, they all ”want to make money,” but it's not the real source of their passion. The most successful agents will cite a higher purpose or mission statement for their life.

Don't know what your higher purpose in life is? That's OK. Just trust that it exists whether you can articulate it or not.

Popular author and speaker Simon Sinek provides a great model for identifying our ”why.” He calls it The Golden Circle (pictured below) and explains it in his famous TED Talk.

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. -Simon Sinek

Tips to Articulate Your ”Why”

We all have a ”why” even if we can't put our finger on it and find the right words to describe it. Sinek says, ”For a person, your WHY is formed when you are young. It is the sum total of who you are, how your parents raised you and the experiences you had. Once formed, your life offers opportunities for you to live your WHY or not.”

• What excites you?
• What makes you feel most fulfilled?
• What jobs have you really loved throughout your career?
• What are you most proud of?
• What are you most proud of during your career as an independent sales agent?
• What special experiences in your life have made an impression on you?

There is likely a common thread among your answers. To help you with this exercise, think about the sales pitch you use on a daily basis. Consider removing the phrase ”overcome your pain or solve your problem.” Instead, think about what you're really solving for a merchant. Freeing up their time so that they can go home to their family sooner? Providing peace of mind so that they can focus their attention on more important aspects of their business?

Don't worry about making your Why Statement sound eloquent. It is meant to evolve over time as you narrow your focus on what really brings you joy in life. So, start simple.

Here are some example Why Statements to get your creative juices flowing:

• To live life on my own terms and help others do the same
• What drives me is to be an agent of change and help people reach their full potential
• I believe in being honest and making sure that people aren't being taken advantage of
• What drives me is learning new things and constantly challenging myself and others to reach new heights.

Identify Your ”How” and Start Showing Your Passion

How does one communicate their Why Statement when passion is inferred? You want your merchant to think to themselves, ”wow, that guy is really passionate about what he does” rather than you directly telling them how passionate you are. You've likely heard people talk about how awesome they are. It rarely ever leads to anyone thinking they're awesome. Same goes for talking about passion.

So, how do you communicate your passion? Through a combination of actions, body language, tone of voice and what you actually say. The most successful independent sales agents communicate their ”why” through these 5 ways. Stay tuned for a blog post on each one in the coming weeks.

• Ask great questions AND listen carefully
• Be diligent in researching prospects on social media
• Prepare well
• Focus on building relationships rather than just earning sales
• Make a good impression

The Risk of Faking Passion

Do we really need to know our ”why?” Can't we just pretend to be passionate about what we do? Especially if we're passionate about making money?

The short answer is yes.

We all know someone who is financially successful but obviously miserable and detached from their work. We can choose to be this person and we might achieve the money we're after.

But most of us want to be wealthy AND fulfilled.

Knowing your ”why” and letting it fuel your merchant services business will deliver long term wealth and satisfaction. If you're passionate about helping small businesses, check out our ISO agent program.