The Sales Success Stories Book – 60 Stories from 20 Top 1% Sales Professionals was published on October 16, 2018. Learn more: http://top1.fm/book
In between the regular interview episodes, we’ll continue to release sample stories from the book like this one. You can either listen to the episode and hear Nicole read her story, or read the full text below.
“I’m a Hustler, Baby”
By: Nicole Miceli
For me, a sales career was never on my radar. Honestly, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life all I knew was that I needed to start a career. When the opportunity presented itself to me it was a “here try this, and we’ll see how it goes”. I’m happy to say it’s going really well, way better than I ever imagined, and I think part of that is because of my ‘hustler mentality’. What is the Hustler Mentality? I’m sure it has a different meaning depending on who you ask, but in this case, we’re going to say a motivated person who has the determination and persistence to succeed no matter what it takes.
It’s because of my hustler mentality that I got one of my best deals early on in my career. I was at a networking event one night where I met a woman, she didn’t have a business card, and it was clear she was not there to mingle especially not with salespeople. A few weeks after the event, when I was going through my cards (yes, I know everything about that sentence is wrong, but we’ll talk about it in another story), I decided to look into the card I got from the woman standing next to her. As I was investigating the company’s website, I discovered that the woman I had met was the owner! The company checked out and seemed like it could be a good opportunity, so I decided to give her a call. In a very rare stroke of luck, she answered on my first attempt! Woah! I was super excited and then got shot down faster then it took me to dial the number. After that kind of call, I’m sure most people would have given up. I didn’t, and here’s where that ‘hustler mentality’ comes in, I called her right back. She answered again. I overcame the objections from the first call and tried a new approach with the second call. Guess what, I got shot down again AND AGAIN! It wasn’t until that 4th call (all in the same hour) that she finally agreed to meet with me.
Now, to most people, calling and talking to the same business owner 4 times in an hour sounds completely crazy and frankly, it did to me too but that’s what being a hustler is all about. I was determined to get an appointment with this woman because I just knew there was a potential sale there and I was willing to call her 4 times in an hour if that’s what it was going to take to get that initial appointment. Thankfully I’ve gotten much better on the phones in my six years of doing this, so I haven’t had to talk to someone as many times as that to get an appointment but that doesn’t mean I’ve lost the hustler mentality. It’s growing with me as my sales skills develop. Developing your inner hustler is an important skill to master. Do I think I’ve mastered it? No, there is always room to grow but I do think mine is more developed than most because I’ve been working on it.
So how do you develop your hustler mentality?
First, you need to figure out what yours is. A good place to start would be to answer these questions:
- What drives you?
- What are your goals?
- Why did you set these specific goals?
- Are you willing to do whatever it takes to achieve these goals?
- What sales skills do you have that you need to work on?
- Who are your sales mentor(s)?
- Can you emulate what they are doing to be successful?
I could go on and on about things you should be focusing on, but you need to figure out yourself and what makes you tick before you can really hone in on your hustler mentality.
Secondly, having a manager that can help pull the hustler out of you and support you in all your ‘crazy’ ideas. I think that was one of the most helpful parts for me, was having a manger that supported me calling someone 4 times in an hour or supported me when a prospect would call in saying ‘I was calling them too much’ or supported me door knocking with little treat bags around holidays. She never told me that what I was doing was crazy, she supported my inner hustler and helped give me other creative ideas to get out there and get noticed. If you don’t have a manager you feel can help with this look to your sales mentors. They are bound to have books, podcasts or weekly emails that you can get tips from and a network of people who would be willing to help you when you feel like something you’re doing is ‘crazy’.
Third, start to surround yourself with other salespeople that you deem to have a hustler mentality. Hopefully, you’ve already started getting out there and networking which would mean that you’re meeting people in other sales positions. I think that these people can be extremely helpful, not only in helping grow your network but in showing you how they operate and what their inner hustler looks like. A rookie mistake that most people make is that they don’t leverage the skills that these people have. Look to see what their inner hustler looks like and what their sales skills strengths are and how you can implement that in your own sales process. This has been a super helpful tactic for me. One of the things I’ve learned is that if you’re meeting the right people, they are looking for the same things you are. Let them help you on your journey just like you’re going to help them on theirs.
Once you start developing your hustler mentality and finding that groove, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the sales situations you’ll start getting involved in. Don’t be afraid that what you are doing is ‘crazy’ or that your goals are ‘too big’. Those things don’t exist in the world of a hustler.
Lessons Learned:
- How to develop and grow your own hustler mentality
- Get a good manager or mentors
- Surround yourself with likeminded ‘crazy’ thinkers
- Find other hustlers who you can pick up good sales skills
Want more from Nicole Miceli? She was the star of episode 43: Office Equipment Solution Sales Specialist – Nicole Micelli