Back in my home country of Jamaica, at certain times of the year the caterpillars would go through the evolution process where they would conceal themselves in cocoons to be transformed into beautiful butterflies. During the final stage of this process, they would break the tip of the cocoon and squeeze themselves through a tiny hole and fly away. One year my friends and I found some of some dead on the ground because they were not able to pull themselves out of their shells. So, in our misguided attempt to help those we saw struggling, we made the holes larger to make it easier for them to get out. What we did not realize is that by squeezing themselves through the tiny hole, removes fluid from their wings, which is the critical last step in their development process and necessary for them to fly. Therefore by us intervening, we essentially condemned all those that we helped by stopping their development which essentially caused them to become food for the ants.

With that being said, many dealership selling professionals today are no different and will continue to suffer from a similar fate as the butterfly, because they were released from the development process way too soon. Because they never learned how to hunt and gather business, they erroneously see themselves as victors and victims during good and bad economic times which are external factors of which they have no control. They have not evolved from the sit-and-wait mentality and approach to doing business, so they still believe that their success or failure is directly linked to the amount prospects walking through the door on a monthly basis. They fail to see their role as impact player capable of building, maintaining and managing their own book of business, so they wait.

As selling professionals, sooner or later we all arrive at that fork in the road where we have to either stop kidding ourselves regarding the results that we are getting and how we are getting them in order to move on to the next level or accept the fact that we are done growing and this is as good as it gets! The facts are these; we are either winning or losing. We are either advancing or in a constant state of retreat. This type of acknowledgement or internal discussion only takes place when we can finally arrive at the ‘do not kid myself day’. If you have not had this discussion as of yet, don’t worry, it is on its way and your day is coming. Which brings me to the question that we all must answer when we arrive at that unforgettable day; are you willing to change in order to become the person you are meant to be or are you going to remain professionally incomplete? Are you satisfied knowing that there is another level of excellence and competence that continues to elude you or are you willing to commit to ‘CANI -Constant And Never Ending Improvement’ to become who you are meant to be?

The good news is that this question has no wrong or right answer because the answer only matters to you. The industry or the company you work for may have released you too soon from your personal developmental process but unlike a butterfly, you can return to your cocoon at any time and complete the transformation process. The information is out there to teach you whatever it is that you need to learn in order to take your game to the next level so there is absolutely no excuse to live a life less than you deserve except by choice.