Great Health = Great Sales

The sales profession is a very demanding career requiring a tremendous amount of energy and mental focus. Do you ever experience extremely low energy in the afternoon? Does your ambition start to waiver as the day progresses? Unfortunately most days of a salesperson are long and require late afternoon and evening appointments. As a former salesperson, I know this situation well. I am a morning person by forced training and late afternoons are not my time of motivation and energy.

Two years ago, a terribly embarrassing incident happened that could have resulted in disastrous consequences. At about three o'clock in the afternoon on a sunny fall day I was driving to a client's office. I got in my car, strapped myself in and began my journey. It was a beautiful fall afternoon and the sun was directly in front of me. About ten minutes into the trip I became very drowsy. I repositioned myself in the seat, shook my head, turned the radio on loudly and blasted the air conditioner. It did not work. I became drowsier as the trip continued. I exited the freeway and headed down a rather high traffic road. I came upon a stoplight and then it happened! BOOM! I hit a car! While waiting for the green light, I fell asleep! Thank goodness neither the person in the car in front of me, his vehicle, or I were hurt or damaged. As you can imagine I was now awake! Unfortunately this was not the best way to learn a very valuable lesson about effective sales! Effective sales you may question? Yes, effective sales. Many times the most helpful skills and advice to improve sales performance have nothing to do with sales at all.

The lesson I learned that day is; if you do not take care of the body transporting your brain from appointment to appointment each day, you will cheat yourself of the highest performance ability. There are four things that you can incorporate into your day that will greatly enhance your clarity, energy and focus. Increased clarity, energy and focus will give you more drive and thus better sales results. Here are four tips to improve effectiveness:

1. Rest - It is imperative to get proper rest each night. Sleep deprivation is very common in sales because of early mornings, pressing deadlines and late night appointments. If one does not receive the proper rest each night, there is a considerable lack of focus the following day. It causes a salesperson to not make that one extra call, finish those, while cumbersome, yet important projects.
2. Diet - Most people hate this word. However, it is not meant as a restrictive word rather it is choosing the right foods as much as possible. Lean meats, whole grains, vegetables, no refined sugar and a lot of water; give your mind more clarity and energy.
3. Water - A properly hydrated body has more energy and functions extremely well.
4. Exercise - Plan on exercising everyday. It will improve your frame of mind and prepare you to conquer the day.

The day I hit that car, I was functioning on only five hours of sleep and consumed a high fat Mexican food lunch - a recipe for disaster.