Sales People Need Reserves and Margins, Too

The real price of everything, what everything really costs to the

man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.

 Adam Smith

Bryan Flanagan writes "sales professionals must build a physical, a mental, and a spiritual reserve. It's easy to run out of gas due to your daily selling activities. Therefore, you need to have something "extra" in your tank. This is where the reserve comes in."

My daughter Sunne texted me in 2009 with "Dad, you have to listen to Tim's sermons on margins! I did. Tim Hawks delivered an important series of sermons on the subject of "margins" and covered subjects such as No Limit Living, Margin and Money, Crowded Loneliness and One False Move.

Richard A. Swenson has written extensively on the subject in his book Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives.

In their definition they're referring to having a margin ready for those times when you're stressed, tired and need to give just little more without falling into problems and traps. 

On the recommendation side, Flanagan gives the following tips on developing reserves;

• Physical Reserve - Get in shape and stay in shape! The tired  sales person at the end of the day has a tendency to rationalize away his or her chances for being a top sales performer.
• Mental Reserve - you hear no and receive more feedback than most other professions. Read good books, listen to good recordings, attend good training sessions and keep your mind pure, positive and powerful.
• Spiritual Reserve - fear and faith are closely related and selling is a tough way to make a living. Choose faith and build your spiritual reserve by making a spiritual decision

Flanagan ends his recommendation about spirtual reserve with "it will keep the heat off you later!"

Having a great day and have your Margins in Reserve.

Danny