From Open Heart to Closed Deals: The Lesson Learned from Heart Disease that Made My Success in Sales

Constant changes in technology, advancements in techniques, and evolving ways to manage outcomes. Are we talking about healthcare or sales?

A lesson I learned early in my life with heart disease was a lesson on resilience. The heart disease landscape is always changing and one must be prepared to embrace whatever those changes bring. I became very adaptable at an early age.

This skill would serve me well over the years as I continued to develop it. I have been obsessed with my profession in sales ever since I started in selling TV’s. We’re all familiar with how TV’s have changed over the years. When I started selling them they weighed 300lbs and cost $5000. Now they weigh under 30lbs and cost $500! I rolled with the changes and kept selling!

Social media changed the entire sales landscape and it didn’t phase me. I jumped right in.

How does one study or fine tune a skill of resilience? I would suggest there are three pillars to shaping one’s skill of resilience. They are awareness, connection, and therapy.

Awareness is the practice of staying aware of your current state. Where do you stand compared to others in a similar position.

In my life with heart disease, I always made it a priority to know and understand my diagnosis. I wanted to have intelligent conversations with my doctors so I would study my diagnosis verse other diagnoses. I always wanted to be aware of what was going on.

In my life in sales, I am always studying others’ techniques and thoughts as a comparison to myself. I study the greats like Jeffrey Gitomer and Grant Cardone. I want to be aware of my current skillset verse theirs.

Connecting is the practice of connecting with others in similar situations as yourself. Just knowing there are others in similar situations as yourself can go a long way.

In my life with heart disease, I joined support groups and social forums to connect with others with similar diagnoses so that we could share best practices. What might be new to me may be old news to someone else. I learned this was the fast track to staying ahead of the game.

Connecting with others and studying their situations allowed me to input different scenarios and situations into my mind so that I could be prepared if I had a similar experience in the future.

In sales, I love to talk to other sales professionals. I like to understand their challenges and what they are doing so that I can be better prepared for the road ahead of me.

Therapy is the practice of giving back to yourself. For me therapy is about giving myself an opportunity to relax my mind and just enjoy the beauty of life. For me, therapy is a time to reinforce gratefulness.

We’re all dealt our own set of cards and regardless if they are good or bad, they have to be played. For me, therapy is a time to reflect on what is really important in life and to show yourself that you care about yourself. Sounds corny doesn’t it?

If you push yourself to be aware and to connect, trust me the therapy time will be well worth it. Therapy can be anything that brings you joy however I would suggest it needs to be a healthy therapy.

I don’t have a separate therapy for heart disease and sales because these two lives are so intertwined now. Music is my therapy. I enjoy listening to music before I start my day, whether it be in my car or in the office, I enjoy losing my mind in some good music.

Once my mind is clear, I’m ready to go after what I need to get done that day.

Resilience has been the key to my success with both heart disease and sales. Focus on awareness, connecting, and therapy and you too, can build the skill.