Many of you who know me personally know that I am an aviation junkie. I love airplanes and follow aviation trends and new announcements in the industry pretty closely. Yesterday was a big day for people like me. Boeing unveiled their newest airliner, the 787. I have watched the development of this new plane for years and as I watched the launch web cast, I started to think and reflect about how companies transform themselves. I then started to think about how salespeople can transform themselves.

So, you’ve gotten totally clear on your career goals, prepared your complete “executive portfolio” of self-marketing documents, and developed a detailed strategy for your search.

Reward and Recognition. The big “R&R” of sales. As a sales manager and individual contributor for many years, I am very motivated by the prospect of being rewarded and recognized. I love getting my sales commissions; we all do. It’s the best possible barometer of our success. As important to me as commissions are, being recognized in front of my peers and my managers has had an equally intoxicating effect as the dollars in motivating me. Recognition for a sale or some other more objective contribution, like doing a good job training or motivating, is very powerful and motivating. It is like filling up the gas tank!

Virtual teams are one powerful way that successful sales professionals are bridging the gap from being tactical sales pros to more consultative sales pros, and closing bigger deals in the process!

Some years ago, I was asked to write a short paper and give a talk about my observations and ideas on what might be keeping salespeople from closing more business when they have all the tools to do the job. At the time I thought long and hard about it and came up with a few basic things. Hopefully you find this helpful in some small way.

One of my favorite topics to talk and write about is my profound belief that EVERYONE is in Sales! I have spoken publicly on this and thought a great deal about it and it remains one of my most favorite topics! Here is the point I am going to make-Everyone in every profession is somehow “selling” what they do. Period.

PASSION is perhaps the best and purest tool in a salesperson’s bag. Seriously. Better than product knowledge, great pricing or awesome features. Passion can carry the day and produce a CLOSED order! Really! Would I kid you?