Sales Tip: Begin With the End in Sight

Salespeople can begin with the end in sight through visualization or some other measurement tool that will put the ultimate objective in perspective. Let me recount a story that will illustrate this principle:

In the early morning of July 4, 1952, the California coast was blanketed with fog. Twenty-one miles to the west on Catalina Island, a 34-year-old woman waded into the water determined to be the very first woman to ever swim the distance from Catalina to the California coast. Her name was Florence Chadwick. She was a seasoned distance swimmer with incredible stamina. She had already achieved recognition as the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. As millions of people rooted for her swim to be a success, she walked into the numbing cold water and began to cut her way through the powerful waves to the California Coast.

As she swam, the numbing temperature of the water and sharks became two of her biggest obstacles. Several times during the course of the swim the people traveling in a boat alongside her had to take rifles and fire them into the water to scare the sharks swimming with her away. But her greatest adversary was the dense fog that enveloped her. She could only see a few feet in front of her as she swam.

Fifteen hours into her swim she asked to be taken out of the water. After being treated for mild hypothermia, Florence was informed that when she stopped she was less than one mile from the shore. In fact, she was almost at the point where the ocean current would have helped wash her in. She could have ridden the waves to the beach.

Florence told reporters, "If I had known how close I was, I wouldn’t have quit. . . . But when I looked up, all I could see was fog and it didn’t look like I had made any progress at all. If I could have only seen the shore I could have made it."
This story is a metaphor for salespeople and their ability to clearly visualize their goals and dreams. The importance of looking through the fog of discouragement, rejection and just plain “bad days” can never be over emphasized. Just like Florence Chadwick if you can’t visualize or somehow measure your achievement as you travel through the many “fogs of life” you may quit even though success is within your reach. Read Tim’s blog of sales tips here: http://www.bpgutah.com/bpg_zions.html