If you followed my Facebook posts this week, you saw that I was speaking at the national sales meeting of Varsity Spirit Corporation, my former company.
Varsity is an American success story. It is the largest cheerleading and dance uniform and camp instruction company in the world. So how did Varsity do it? Well, it’s done a lot of things well through the years. It’s always been on the front edge of innovation, leading the way in all aspects of school spirit. It’s always provided great products and services. AND Varsity hires passionate people and created a great culture to ensure the passion stays alive.
So what makes passion so important in business and sales?
- Passionate salespeople are all in. They’re not clock watchers. You can spot non-passionate salespeople pretty easily. They come into work on Monday and say, “I’m doing okay—for a Monday.” Wednesday rolls around, and they celebrate hump day. And, of course, they are president of the Thank God It’s Friday Club.
Passionate salespeople are just the opposite. They regard work as play and play as work. They aren’t watching the clock because time flies when you are all in.
- Passionate salespeople live and breathe their products and services. They are ambassadors of the product, not just salespeople. Their enthusiasm is contagious, and so are the sales results.
- Passionate salespeople hit the fun quota and the sales quota. They love what they do, and they love what they sell. It’s a pretty simple formula for success.
How about your sales organization? If you had to give your sales team a scorecard on passion, say on a scale of 1–10, where would it rate? As you get ready for 2017, take a look at passion. It just might be the one quality that you need to hire to help you accelerate and exceed revenue goals.
