It will be tough, ugly and hard!

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is either intentionally or unintentionally tempting all Australians to look at their cup of future opportunity and to see the cup as half empty and not half full.

He’s telling Australians that the times ahead will be tough, ugly and hard. Here’s a great example of us needing to watch who we let near our minds. Morning radio talkback host Alan Jones on 2UE in Sydney rightly questioned the value of such a pessimistic statement made by the Prime Minister.

To paraphrase Mr. Jones, he said something like, “if I were coaching the Australian Rugby Team, imagine if I said to them that the game would be tough, ugly and hard… surely the team would think that the coach didn’t think they could win”

In sales, in just about every business across most industries, at any time, competition is tough. However, surely that’s a given… to focus on that is a waste of time, effort and resource.

The successful salesperson and business owner recognises that the time is always right in business to be talking up opportunities (not talking them down), and to be asking clients about their plans, their issues, and opportunities they hope to achieve now and in the future.

This is not about looking at the world through rose coloured glasses – it’s about realistically focusing on potential opportunities to create reciprocal value.