This Too Shall Change
By: Jeffrey F. Knott
“This Too Shall Change.” These four words helped to change my perception of every situation I encounter. Although I don't remember who it was that spoke these words to me when I was in need of them the most, I have never forgotten them. Whether times are good or bad I always remember that, “This too shall change.” “People aren't buying right now”, “Business is booming”. Whichever of these two mantras you find yourself or you hear others reciting in your showroom, it will change. That's right, everyone has an opinion on how the car business is going and what factors are influencing car sales and the lack there of. Whether these opinions are only a person's perception or they are reality there is one constant truth about the current situation, it will change. Whether it is for the good or for the worse everything changes in this world. Actually the only constant in this world is change.
Your perception of the current situation has as much of an influence on it as the true state of affairs. It may be true that interest rates are up, new car sales are down, the stock market is volatile and more mortgages are ending in foreclosure than ever before but your perception of your own reality ultimately determines your situation. This is proven time and again by the salespeople who always find a reason to justify their failure to sell cars and like a self fulfilling prophecy they find themselves at the bottom of the sales board upon months end.
I'm sure if you think real hard you could find a reason to justify why you aren't selling a lot of cars. Just about any situation will do as an excuse. You don't even have to look for one. There is always an excuse why someone can't sell a car. It's near Thanksgiving and everyone is traveling to see their relatives, its December and people are shopping for gifts, its winter and it is too cold, its summer and it's too hot, it's been raining too much, the kids are going back to school, the kids are out of school and people are going on vacation, It's football season, The NBA playoffs are on TV. The list of reasons why business is slow is endless. However the only real influence on your situation is your perception of the situation. If you sell 30 cars this month you won't change any of the things I have mentioned previously but you will improve your own situation and all you have to do to accomplish this is change your perception.
Become optimistic. Even if things appear to be slow remember that most of your competition will be walking around the showroom elaborating on these excuses to justify their poor performance. Their excuses will be self defeating. They have forfeited the game before it has ever begun. This means that your situation has changed for the better since now there is less competition. All of the salesman and all of the dealerships around you have taken themselves “out of the market”. Why? Because they believe that cars sales are slow. They let the perception of some external circumstance influence their perception. Remember if you want to change your situation, simply change the way you are viewing it. Change your perception and it will change.
“What if I am doing great and I don't want things to change?” This question you may be asking yourself. Well as I mentioned earlier the reality of life is that things change. However they don't always change for the worse. Maybe you are selling 30 cars a month and you are on a roll. Take control of your destiny and make the change yourself. Take yourself to the next level. Improve upon what you are already doing. Learn more, work harder, work smarter because doing the things you have done so far may have gotten you to this point of success but that doesn't mean that it is good enough to get you where you want to be.
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Jeffrey F. Knott is the Author of From Zero to Hero, How to Master the Art of Selling Cars and can be reached by email: Jeff@Showroomtoday.com |
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