People’s sale style reflects their personal beliefs and values. This is because we act in the way we think is the most appropriate. But we determine what is the most appropriate based on our personal experiences. For instance, when I want to purchase or make repairs on my vehicle, I make safety my number one priority. Safety features became even more important for me after I became a parent. Therefore, it should not be surprising that when I was selling cars, I emphasized automotive safety features.

I knew all safety options and shared them with my customers with confidence and excitement in my voice. I assumed that everyone would care about safety. Even when customers did not prioritize safety features, I wanted to talk about those safety features because that was my comfort zone. In other words, it’s what would make me buy or repair the car, so I thought that is what would make others buy. People sell the way they buy. Depending on your relationships to a product that you are selling, this can be beneficial or damaging.

For example, if you see value in the product you are selling, you believe that this product is useful and of a good quality, to the point that you would want to own it yourself. Then it will be easier for you to sell that product to others. At the same time, if you do not believe in your product, think it’s overpriced, or useless, then it will be evident to your customers. Even if you memorized a perfect sales pitch, your non-verbal body language and intonations will give it away and make customers suspicious. This leads me to another point. In sales, people do not have sales problems, they have life problems. 90% of the time, problems in your sales process come from your personal life. For example, if you treat your life as a given and simply wait for opportunities to find you, it will be reflected in your sales process.

At the service drive, you will be waiting for customers to come to you and ask you to sell them your product. You will treat the environment as a given and expect for the customers to find you. You will later get frustrated with the fact that customers don’t grow on trees, and even if they are (depending on your sales environment), you still need to water and care for those “trees.” In a similar way, if you are hustling for yourself in everyday life by creating opportunities for yourself, then you will do the same at the dealership. At the service drive, you will come out and greet your customers, you will talk to them about their family and friends, and you will ask your customers to send you referrals. You will create sales opportunities for yourself by going an extra mile. Both cases demonstrate how your natural way of being comes out in your work environment. This is because you are being who you are. You simply do not function any other way. There are many other examples.

Let’s say you are passionate about educating yourself to grow to your fullest potential, then you will educate yourself at your dealership as well. You will grab all the knowledge available to you, you will read information online, and take trainings at your dealership. You are the person who will have majority of answers and even if you do not have answers, you will make your goal to find them out. Wanting to know could be challenging when it begins to limit you. In other words, if you feel incompetent, or even like a failure when you do not know, then it would prevent you from functioning productively.

One of the service advisors once shared with me that the majority of his sales include around 15% discounts, but he sells a lot of products in high value. He shared that when he shops, he likes to buy products in bulk. He would buy extra things if he could get some discount out of it. This preference to buy in bulk also comes out in his sales style. He offers customers discounts if they would buy multiple services. His energy about it is so natural that it is persuasive to the customers. As I said, he sells lots of products and services, yet he also gives discounts. If he would be able to sell same quantity of products without giving discounts, he could be banking more money for himself and the dealership. Another example may include people who are mindful about their own time. They are doing things like making a time schedule and sticking to it. They will continue respecting their time at work by coming on time, completing their tasks early, and setting goals for the next day. This respect for time will also shine on other people’s time and they will be comfortable talking about timelines with customers.

This same individual may also struggle when something happens outside of their plan, which is a common phenomenon at the dealership. So, he or she needs to be aware of their need to time manage and try to find room for flexibility with time. What I am proposing is taking responsibility for your actions. Take responsibility for your success and your failures.

When you take accountability for your actions, you will know that the improvement of your environment will need to come from you. You will realize that you have the power to live the life you want. You will also realize that some sacrifices need to be made, some learning needs to take place, and some steps toward action cannot wait any longer. It will be very tempting to blame others and avoid responsibilities rather than realize and accept your own flaws. I encourage you to make a note of the problems that prevent you from living your life to the fullest. Those same problems stop you from being productive at your work environment.

Before you can take action toward being more productive in your professional life, you need to identify your relational patterns, values, and goals in your personal life. There are no bad or good relational patterns, values, and goals. It is not about changing your beliefs. It is about being aware of them and making them work for you. Your skills and knowledge are unique. You are valuable the way you are. The goal is to figure out how your skills and values can be the most beneficial to the environment so that you can serve people around you to the fullest and find joy at your professional life.