When you hit a comfort zone it is very hard to get motivated to move out of that zone. When we aren’t satisfied with our results, it’s easier to take a risk. We can envision something better and are willing to do what is necessary to attain it, even if those activities are outside of our comfort zone. When salespeople usually stagnate is when they reach a level they are satisfied with. It becomes harder for them to envision “better” because what they have now seems pretty good to them. They either don’t want to risk losing what they have or aren’t motivated to do challenging things to attain more. Being a great salesperson often means letting go of certainty to strive for an uncertain improvement.

So why is taking a risk so challenging? On the surface we can all think of how more success would be beneficial. However, hypothetical situations aren’t real motivation for us to strive to attain these things. We have to be motivated by a clear definition of what we want to achieve and why we should take the risks necessary to achieve our goals. That’s why we hear stories of successful business owners that lost a business before but came back to create a new successful business. 53% of successful business owners have failed at least once in a business before starting their successful business. They had the advantage of having little to lose. Rather than being conservative, they took another big risk because they couldn’t be worse off than they were after losing their last business. The more comfortable you are with your current situation, the more challenging it is to take risks.

Sales are about improvement and growth. The beauty of the profession is there is no ceiling on what you can achieve. The downside is you are limited by your own concepts of success and comfort. If you can’t envision something better than what you currently have, you won’t take risks to achieve new heights. On the surface that seems OK, comfort is what many of us seek. The problem is it stunts your development as a salesperson and will prevent you from being the best you can be. If you find yourself saying that you’re comfortable where you are and have no real plan or motivation to improve, you are giving up on developing yourself. Don’t allow yourself to get so comfortable that you won’t take risks to better yourself. It will cheat you out of professional success- but maybe more detrimental, is that it will cheat you out of personal growth.

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