A Lesson in Life from Amy Van Dyken, “Beast Mode”
Amy Van Dyken, six time gold medalist, and Willow Creek Elementary School kid, the same school I went to, wears the shirt Beast Mode. This picture, taken sometime after her ATV accident gives sales professionals (and anyone) a view into what it means to persist and press on, even when you don’t want to.
Amy recently launched Amy’s Army to help drive money and awareness for people with spinal cord injuries, and continues to “train harder than she did when training for the Olympics”.
How does this apply to the career of a sales professional?
1) You can’t just wing it! Amy has expert s all around her pushing her to get to the next level. Helping her focus on the right things, and she trains Monday/Wednesday/Friday every single week. What are you doing to train weekly? Suggestion: Try Ideal Response. It’s a way for sales teams to focus on the top objections as a team, and role play them until the ideal response is built and everybody gets it.
2) Learn from the best! There are hundreds of books by sales leaders, daily and weekly blogs and The American Association of Inside Sales Professionals, the authority on Inside Sales as a profession. www.aa-isp.org
3) Get into Beast Mode often! It’s easy to find yourself in fourth gear cruising through life, gaining weight, and losing your edge when it comes to selling. In 2015, pick a physical goal you want to accomplish like a half marathon or a hike to the top of a mountain, something. And then set some sales goals like reading a book a month, or going to an AA-ISP event, or getting a mentor.
When Amy was in my sixth grade class, a substitute teacher told us both to focus on working hard in class and not on popularity because popularity is short lived, and becoming a life long learner is most important. Almost 30 years later, I’m proud to see Any win the medals that she won, and even more proud to see her use her life to make a difference.
May everyone find their Beast Mode in 2015 and May Amy Van Dyken continue to live out her dreams and inspire others!
