The Dark Side Part IV – Breaking the Jade
Ever find yourself hopelessly locked in jaded thoughts? Is the spark eluding you?
How do you go about breaking the jade?
Jaded thinking is a prevalent problem in the wine business – especially with salespeople. I have definitely been there.
So, I have placed a few jade-breakers on your table below.
Head up. Stay in it.
Surround yourself with better people.
If the people around you know a shitload about wine but consistently drag you down, you have to reduce the time spent with them. This may be obvious, but it is easy to forget that you are the average of who you choose to hang with.
Further, Salespeople that commiserate on how “bad” things are without bringing constructive, forward-thinking ideas to the table are a dime a dozen. It is much easier to bitch and not create. If you surround yourself with the drama, you are the drama.
Breaking the typical frame
Last year I ran into a very successful salesperson who lamented that he had become an order-processing machine. The common response to this is some bullshit question like “do you wish you didn’t get so many orders?” Or a statement like: “well, aren’t you lucky, doesn’t everyone want that problem?”
I asked: “what advice would you give yourself on how to find joy in placing orders?” followed by“Do you give yourself space to not place the orders as they come in?”
He was shocked – normally he gets the typical nonsense answer. Ultimately, I don’t know if it made a difference, but here is what I do know: if you think you are an order-processing machine, most likely you are one.
Endeavor to find joy in repetitive and challenging things or, stop doing what other people do.
Quiet the mind
Meditate often. Close your eyes. Stop repeating for a second. Circular thinking can be shifted by simply noticing and paradoxically, taking a circular breath. You are an elegant machine because you are “at choice.”
There is NO perfect form or technique in this business – remember that.
Decide your values
Running around like a chicken sales drone with no head is what many do. You don’t have to.
Sit down and write the five things that you really care about in your sales world. The pillars that you can look to daily.
They will most likely evolve, so don’t worry about the right answer. But you must commit and start somewhere. Shape your sales world for the moment and notice what happens.
“ If the people you surround yourself with know a shitload about wine but consistently drag you down, you have to reduce the time spent with them.
Draw a boundary
If you want to drop bottles and follow up all day long, do it. If you want to prospect one day a week, do it. If you want to answer every email and text as it comes in, do it.
Undoubtedly, you will come to a place where you have to decide when NOT to do things. The best at this (that I know personally) have a few boundaries that they stick to.
You will earn more trust, respect, and clarity while at the same time being more present.
The busy and downtrodden rep is a stereotype for a reason – it is because it has been fulfilled over and over again. Leave that neighborhood of thinking to those who choose to be there.
Step away – the nuclear option
Shut it down completely. Then call a loved one, look at something beautiful for more than 20 seconds or do something that doesn’t compute. Challenge yourself to learn something new. All of these help to break jaded thinking. Attempting this halfway is not an option – You have to completely forget about sales to do it.