By Jack Perry
Passion is a fever, a desire, a powerful emotion within you. When you have passion, you have a spark in your eye, excitement in your voice, and a glow to your being. When a person has passion, you can see it and feel it. It fills up the whole room, and it impacts you. Actors with passion have the ability to draw you into their performance and make you empathize with their characters. Teachers with passion inspire their students to enjoy learning. Coaches with passion drive athletes to top performance. A sales person with a passion for their service/product compels you to accept their solutions.
But a person who lacks passion impacts you as well. A person who doesn’t have passion is bland, maybe even boring, especially in professional areas. Think about those sales people who lack passion for their product or service. Their marketing and sales efforts might seem scripted, or their projects might seem average. Their communication is uninspiring. They certainly aren’t memorable. The buyer is not moved or compelled to action.
How can you tap into your passion and use it to your advantage? Consider the following tips.
Why is Passion Important?
Having passion for what you do has a number of benefits. If you have passion, no obstacle can hold you back. In sales and marketing, if someone gives you an objection you’ve never heard, your passion will drive you to think of several responses and find a way to overcome it.
Passion is also contagious. Everyone, except the irreversible cynics, likes to be around passionate people. While some will always see the glass as half empty, the vast majority of people are capable of buying into your passion. They like your passion because it makes them feel good about themselves. They want to join you.
When you are passionate about a subject, people will know where you stand. If you’re passionate about a political cause, this passion will show through in your actions and conversations. Some people won’t like your stance, but others will. You’ll discover immediately who you want to spend time with. Your passion will separate the people who really like you from those who don’t want to be around you.
Passion separates you from your competition. It makes you more successful. When you’re with prospectsand clients: show them how you truly feel about your recommendation or your solution to their needs with your tone of voice, your rate of speech, and your choice of words. Do this with the objective that you believe this is the right thing for them. If you can do this, you can separate yourself from the competitor who comes in with a ho-hum attitude. Your prospect will be able to see and feel the difference.
Use Your Passion to Lead
Most people want some leadership in their lives from time to time, especially people who spend a lot of time sitting on the fence. They want to be shown a better way. This can be particularly powerful in the sales field.
You can use your passion to guide your clients and prospects toward a buying decision. When you truly believe that your solution is right for the client, and you see the client sitting on the fence, stand up and stake a claim. Tell them why you feel your solution is in their best interest. When they waver, don’t lose sight of your solution or lose your passion for it. Instead, harness your passion to help your prospects see and understand the merits of what you have to offer. Tell them how making a buying decision will help them individually and as a company.
Many people need an extra push to get excited about something. Use your passion to guide your prospects toward making a move rather than twiddling their thumbs all day. Take a proactive stance and tell them that this is where their competition is going; this is where business is going. This helps them make a move toward a decision.
What Are You Passionate About?
Are you passionate about exercise, selling, a career, a political party, a particular charity? If you can’t come up with something you’re passionate about, then you’re just coasting through life. You’re not using your talents and you’re missing the excitement associated with passion.
If you think that your life lacks passion, self-examination can help you find it. Start by listing things you enjoy doing and then try to find a common theme among them. If you like going to the beach, vacationing in the mountains, and skiing in the winter, then you must be passionate about the outdoors. If you like volunteering at the hospital, coaching your kids’ softball team, and satisfying your clients’ needs, then you are passionate about helping people.
Your passion might be for your career, or it might be for something you pursue outside of your profession. In fact, the vast majority of people are not passionate about their work. They might feel trapped, or they might be afraid to take risks. While you don’t have to be passionate about your job, you’re going to spend a lot of time and energy there. If you can incorporate your passion into your work, then it will be much more satisfying. If your passion is for helping people, then you might want to explore opportunities within your organization that help your co-workers, such as training or mentoring.
Passion in Your Future
When you have passion for your work, you literally have the power to make your prospects and clients beg for more. They will see your excitement and feel compelled to buy from you, now and in the future. You can also use your passion to guide your indecisive prospects toward a buying decision. You might have to do some self-examination to discover exactly what you’re passionate about. But once you discover your passion, you will be unstoppable.
Passion from The Respect Factor® Series
THE RESPECT FACTOR® is a trademark of Jack Perry in the United States and other countries. Used with permission. ©2009 Jack Perry. All rights reserved.
Comments