Is Your Epidermis -– and Passion — Showing?

You probably know the old 3rd grade joke — where someone’s made to squirm when told their epidermis is showing.

Most us are aware by now that our epidermis (skin) is always showing. But, as sales professionals, is our passion for our product always on display?

Indeed, your passion should be showing -– and showing every bit as obviously as your epidermis.

Countless are the sales trainers, teachers, gurus, and guides who counsel enthusiasm as the first – and the most essential – aspect of making the sale.

After all, whatever information or knowledge you may have, if you don’t believe in what you’re selling, why on earth should anyone else?

Do you serve as your customers’ assistant buyer? Do you help them find the right diamond? The right setting? The one that most flatters them. Most pleases them. And also fits their budget.

If you’ve done the legwork, then let your enthusiasm show! You have every right to do so!

Frank Bettger, in his 1947 classic How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling, tells how, early in his career, he stood at the brink of quitting his job in insurance sales.

He had spent ten long months trying to succeed. But had only met disheartening failure. He recalled at that moment how, earlier in his life, his enthusiasm as a baseball player uplifted him and his entire team. Then he made a choice.

“The Turning Point of My Life”

He decided to bring some serious enthusiasm to his sales endeavors: “It was the turning point of my life,” declares Bettger. The next day he turned the enthusiasm on high, and thought he might be viewed as a nut. But that wasn’t the case at all.

In fact, he went on to an extraordinary, and extraordinarily profitable, career – with enthusiasm as his master key.

Writing this year, more than 60 years after Bettger, best-selling sales and marketing expert Kip Bodner states: “It all starts with passion.” He says the top reason large corporations fail is because they fall into a ruinous passion rut.

And he offers the following daily passion affirmations:

“I love my job. I am awesome. My team is awesome. Our products make a difference. What can I do to make a difference today? I am a marketing superstar. Watch me soar!”

Certainly, all of us can soar so much more – by boldly showing our epidermis, and our passion, every single day.