You may be expecting this article to be about developing networking skills. Or those ever-so-important closing skills. Or maybe you are expecting us to give you the super-secret 5 step plan that will rocket your sales into the atmosphere.

Sorry to disappoint, but today we are going to focus on what might be even more important: personal development. Because when it comes to sales, the numbers are only as good as your tools.

And your most important tool is you. Every athlete knows this and practices it, so why shouldn’t you? Taking care of your mind and body is the core of your success. Okay, okay, we know some of you immediately reacted with:

“Personal Development and My Personal Life Has Nothing to Do with Work”

 But the fact is that it does. You can’t just turn off your:

• Thoughts
• Feelings
• Emotions

Or maybe you can, but how long until they come bubbling up at an inopportune moment or you burn out? And your body depends on you to take care of it so that it can function optimally.

If you don’t, you risk the chance of being sick for a really important pitch or closing meeting. Sold on personal development yet? Keep reading.

Let’s Start with Mental Clarity

We assume you would agree all stages of the sales process require clarity and focus. Not just so you can stay on target with your strategy, sales process, or communications but because you represent the following you are selling:

• Product
• Service
• Brand

Being flaky, disorganized, or burned out is one of the quickest ways to a client’s or potential client’s, trust.

VeryWell Mind has a great article, 7 Useful Tips for Improving Your Mental Focus, that can help you build and maintain laser-like mental clarity and focus.

Mindset Matters

You probably already know this and have addressed your mindset from the outside in— like setting up powerful goals and one-liners to help you keep on track. But have you taken a look at your mindset from the inside out?

Getting to know those deep core beliefs you have about the following can be of great benefit:

• Yourself
• The product
• The industry
• Even the world, in general

There may be some negative core beliefs living underneath all the hustle that sabotages your process and blocks you from achieving your goals.

For example, if you don’t believe in the product you are selling, customers will sense it, and they won’t buy. The good news is that you aren’t stuck with these beliefs.

There are great development coaches, counselors, and online courses that can help you change your core beliefs. You can start by reading this article, “Changing Core Beliefs.”

Taking Care of Your Most Important Tool: Your Body

This is a no brainer, but for some reason, we are not taught that taking care of your body needs to outrank everything else.

Abusing your body will not only affect your present moment mood and your thinking, but eventually, your body will give in to the abuse sometime in the not too distant future.

• Maybe you experience a mid-day slump.
• Or you lose stamina during a long pitch.
• Maybe you have that nagging low-grade flu that won’t go away— or even worse, it turns into walking pneumonia.

No need for all of that. Change your habits, and your body will thank you. There is tons of information out there about how to take care of your body, but here are the basics.

• Eat regularly throughout the day.
  • No more fast food.
  • Eat nourishing foods.
  • Hire a nutritionist or go to your doctor for help.
• Get up.
  • Take breaks between sales calls or while working in front of the computer.
  • Take a walk around the office or the block.
  • Chat with a co-worker.

Get Enough Sleep

Yes, it may seem like wasted time, but sleeping 8-9 hours a night will do wonders for your mood and your mental clarity. And you won’t need so much sugar and caffeine to get through the day!

Exercise

This can mean different things to different people. Yoga or swimming might be your go-to. Or maybe it’s weight training or frisbee golf. Whatever it is, get out there and do it— and enjoy it. That’s the key to keeping it up!

Nurture Relationships

You already know developing and maintaining relationships are key to sales success.

Personal Relationships

Good relationships on the home front are equally important. The problems you have in your personal relationships are probably popping up somewhere at work too.

Interpersonal Relationships

Not to mention that you are lugging interpersonal troubles everywhere you go, and they will inevitably become work distractions.

Where to Get Help

If you know personal relationships are a challenge for you, use the same zest for research that led you to this article to lead you to help. There are plenty of online resources that can give you the tools and understanding that you need to sort out relationship problems.

Building a good social and family life provides a safe place to rest and play when things aren’t going great at work.

Mastermind with Salespeople Who Are More Successful Than You

This may be a little counter-intuitive because sales are such a cut-throat environment. But mentors are out there— maybe they are someone in your field who is in a different territory or maybe they are someone in another field with transferrable skills and ideas.

It’s getting easier and easier to find mastermind groups that meet regularly online. Many times masterminds are part of or can grow out of online courses.

We’re Here to Help You

We hope this post has helped you remember it’s important not to get so obsessed with making the sales you forget who is making them and that you, too, need to be an optimally running machine.

We wish you good health! Superb sales! And remember, we’re here to help you with your premium water dispenser needs whenever you need us!