Finding the true voice of enthusiasm

In our last post, we looked at three (of four) obstacles we all encounter when trying to find our personal calling. Coehlo (The Alchemist) continues with the fourth obstacle, what he calls 'the most dangerous of the four':

"Having disinterred our dream, having used the power of love to nurture it and spent many years living with the scars, we suddenly notice that what we always wanted is there, waiting for us, perhaps the very next day. Then comes the fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives.

Oscar Wilde said: "Each man kills the thing he loves." And it's true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far. I have known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reached their goal–when it was only a step away.

This is the most dangerous of the obstacles because it has a kind of saintly aura about it: renouncing joy and conquest. But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here."

Remember this series is titled, The Six Characteristics of the Champion Sales Professional. This is not the characteristics of the average sales person, or the bored sales person, or the sales person who-fakes-enthusiasm sales person. This is about what it takes to be at the very top of the sales world. My friend Jim Blanchard wrote to me and said, "Remember the key is selling with  enthusiasm, not only by enthusiasm. Not all buyers buy enthusiasm." And I think that makes the same point that Coelho so eloquently describes in his introduction. When we are living from our personal calling, we have contagious energy. We have enthusiasm that shows in all we do, all we say and all we are. It is too simple to say that we must be enthusiastic about what we sell. That is a given, and like saying a good quarterback must have excellent foot work or a good golfer must have a good grip.

We now understand that the champion sales professional knows how to manage their energy (mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual) and also strives to find their personal calling, so that they can master the language of enthusiasm. These are the first two keys.

Next, we will move to the 'L's': likability and love. Remember, ELU to the power of two or ELU Squared.

Enthusiasm - the four obstacles

The journey to enthusiasm:

If you are not selling with enthusiasm, then you may need to consider what Paulo Coehlo calls 'our personal calling', in his best selling book, The Alchemist. As we discussed previously, following one's personal calling can be scary stuff. It takes courage to confront our dreams and line up our passions with our talents. Why?

Because there are four obstacles that get in our way. Quoting from the introduction of the book, on pages vi-vii, let's look at obstacles one, two and three now and then continue with the final obstacle in the next churn.

1. First we are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fear, and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it's still there.
2. If we have the courage to disinter (good word) dream, we are faced with the second obstacle: love. We know what we want to do, but we are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that those who truly wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on the journey.
3. Once we have accepted that love is a stimulus, we come up against the third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path. We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn't work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: "Oh, well, I didn't really want it anyway." We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and that the path of the personal calling is no easier than any other path, except that our whole heart is in this journey. We must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how.

Coehlo then ask this thought-absorbing question: "So, why is it so important to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people?" And he answers:

Because, once we have overcome the defeats–and we always do–we are filled by a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. Each day, each hour, is part of the good fight. We start to live with enthusiasm and pleasure. Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our soul, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.

Are you selling with enthusiasm? Do you have the courage to disinter dream? Are you ready to face the fourth obstacle?

Enthusiasm - the second key to successful selling

Are you filled with enthusiasm?

In Paulo Coelho's international best selling book, The Alchemist, we learn that there are four obstacles we all must overcome in order to truly find our personal calling. In the introduction to the book, Coelho is asked the question: What is a personal calling? He responds, "It is God's blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend."

He then adds this key sentence: "However, we don't all have the courage to confront our dream."

Working from the top of the selling pyramid down to the next level, in order to be a champion sales person, we must be filled with enthusiasm. Having learned to manage our energy, we can now move through life in a way that says, 'Hello world, I am on the path I am meant to be.' While I recognize that finding this path is not easy, I can assure you that it starts at the top of the pyramid and an understanding of managing our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual energy.

Next, let's look at the four obstacles that Santiago, the shepherd boy, faces in his journey and see how very early on, he learned to speak the language of enthusiasm.