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Love what you do, appreciate what you have
Foundation for success in sales
By Landy Chase
As if to prove the old adage, “everyone in business is in sales,” I have recently found myself a number of times working with, of all things, the dental profession.

You might not think that dentists have a need for sales and marketing skills, and certainly many of these doctors still “sniff” at the idea of having to actually market their services. That attitude is changing. As in all other professions, the most successful of their lot are better marketers than their peers. That fact alone is changing how dentists manage their practices, and has therefore afforded me an opportunity to get involved with some of them.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with these professionals — as much as any single group of people I have worked with. They are intelligent, outgoing, and genuinely fun to be around. Perhaps my biggest surprise in developing relationships with dentists is that they exhibit most of the same characteristics that I find in successful sales people, specifically:

1. They possess healthy egos. I’m not referring here to arrogance; simply the confidence that comes with the experience of developing a high level of expertise. This is a hallmark of the successful sales person; it also applies here to successful doctors.

2. They have good communication skills. Like sales people, most dentists are anything but conformists to their work stereotype. Most people assume that sales people are “shady” and “slick,” when in reality this is hardly ever the case. Dentists, like other technicians, are often assumed to be “nerdy” and introverted. On the contrary, I have found that most dentists — and certainly the most successful ones — have excellent people skills.

3. They love their work. This point — and the idea for this article — hit home as I recently sat in on a roundtable discussion with a group of dentists. The topic of discussion was financial management of the dental office, and I couldn’t help but smile when one of them — a great guy with a very successful dental practice — couldn’t help but gush to his peers, “and we’re in a profession that’s so much fun!” He was almost beside himself with glee, and he reminded me of so many of the most successful sales people I have worked with over the years. His enthusiasm was contagious, and it was a delight to be around someone who was so happy with his profession.

This is where I want to “get off of the train” of brotherly love with the dental profession and ask you, the sales person, to think for a moment about how fortunate you are to have the opportunities that our profession gives you.

Speaking only for myself, I cannot imagine anything in this life that would make me more miserable than being a dentist. Sitting on the same stool, in the same office, for eight to 10 hours a day, with the same assistant beside me, using the same set of tools, and facing the same task — that of going into peoples mouths to repair decaying teeth — every day? No thanks. Noooooo thank you. No way, no how. There is no amount of money, no amount of prestige, no perk, no promise, no blessing on God’s green earth that could persuade me to make a living as a dentist.

It may appear that I am singling out the dental profession, but there is a reason for this. Dentists make a very nice living, they don’t have to travel, they deservedly hold a position of high prestige in the community, they provide a valuable and highly skilled service to their patients. Their work is very rewarding and meaningful, and they get to be called “doctor.” (Trust me, this last one is of huge importance to many).

There are many other fine occupations besides dentistry that would make me equally miserable; I am merely citing it as an example — to point out that there is a difference between “having it all” and having what matters; that, of course, being happy with your chosen profession, whatever it may be.

I am very grateful that God makes us all so different, so that there are people who actually want to work in dentistry and other occupations that do not appeal to me. This wonderful fact frees up space in the job market for people like me, whose idea of “fun at work” is not necessarily better, but certainly different:

1. The experience of having every day be an exciting, unique and colorful chapter of life, in which nothing is the same as it was the day before;
2. The indescribable pleasure, unique to the sales profession, of having the freedom to almost completely control, daily, what one does with one’s time;
3. The too-often-taken-for-granted opportunity to enjoy life’s rich pageant from the wonderful perspective of mankind’s all-time greatest “fun machine,” the automobile;
4. The option of rolling down the window of said automobile on a beautiful day and enjoying unlimited fresh air and sunshine upon demand;
5. The experience of having lunch at a picnic table beside a highway in the middle of nowhere with a beautiful view and scenic whitewater stream with nobody there to bother you;
6. The opportunity to push one’s income to higher levels through personal ingenuity, new ideas, and sound business management;
7. The pleasure of meeting new people in an environment that makes such encounters an enjoyable and profitable experience;
8. Doing all of this in a profession that, along with the afore-mentioned doctors, attorneys (now there’s a profession for a future column!) and business owners, produces the most millionaires in our nation — and, by far, the most people who say they are happy with their work.

The next time you in sales want to whine about how bad things are, about how tough the market is, and about how your competitors are killing your margins, stop and ask yourself this question: “Do I love what I do for a living?”

If the answer is “yes” then re-read this article, remind yourself of why you love this strange and complex profession, and commit yourself to becoming better at it. If the answer is “no” today, “no” a week from now, and “no” in 30 days, then you are in the wrong profession. The world needs dentists too — and, as noted above, you can even change careers without leaving the top-tier professions for personal income. How cool is that?

About the author: Based in Charlotte, NC, Landy Chase, MBA, CSP is an expert who specializes in speaking to corporations and associations on advanced professional selling and sales management skills. For more information, visit his Web site or call 877-550-2655. FREE BY REQUEST! Sample “Key Items to Consider” List! For a free copy, send an e-mail through the author’s Web site.