Using your Personal Passions to Fuel Your Sales

By Matt Kelm
Sales Trainer
CareerBuilder.com
October 22, 2007

If you just started a new job at a new company, you may find it difficult to be passionate about your new occupation, and that’s ok. The key to success in your new role, however, is that you find something that you are passionate about in your life, and find a way to use your new job to make that happen.

Make no mistake about it, the first 3 months of any new job are difficult, and you will be tested. You may not be very good at all, and you will make mistakes along the way. That is alright, so long as you learn from them, and continue to improve. However, it is passion that will propel you to the places you ultimately want to go.

When I started as an entry level salesman, I knew that the only thing that would keep pushing me forward was to use my opportunity to achieve those things that I was personally passionate about. If I could only do that, I knew that passion in my professional life would eventually come.

Personally, I am passionate about my family, my music, helping others, and my finanacial security. When I started, I wanted to purchase an engagement ring for my wife, my girlfriend at the time. I also wanted to purchase a brand new drum set, somehow help others, and pay off my credit card debt.

I used the engagement ring as my first goal. I went to the jewelry store, and I chose the ring I would be buying. I hung a picture of that ring in my cubical, so that before every call I had a visual reminder of that goal, and I knew exactly why I was picking up the phone. For every sale I didn’t make, for every potential client who said “no,” I had a reason to pick up the phone, dust myself off, and try again. That engagement ring was the proverbial carrot dangling in front of this horse.

Everyday, I dedicated my time and efforts to making sure that I had done something that put me one step closer to fulfilling my wants. Every sale I made was one dollar more toward the ring, one more dollar toward the drum set, or the debt. All of my hard work would eventually open doors to help others. I dedicated all my energy to make it happen, and slowly I was achieving the things that I wanted.

Those “wants” are what fuel your passion. Turning those wants into “haves” takes several things, most namely an incredible amount of passion. It also takes commitment and a little bit of blind faith.

Passion is having the heart, energy and desire in achieving what it is you set out to accomplish every single day.

While the phrase, “It’s not personal, it’s business,” may apply to being rejected in sales, it certainly doesn’t apply to passion. Passion is incredibly personal. Finding your passion takes looking inside yourself and finding what you can commit your energy to.

As a sales trainer, here are a few things that I am professionally passionate about. Hopefully these ideas will spark some of your own thoughts on what you can be passionate about at work.

Waking up to the thought of how I can improve a learning activity in class.


Staying up late to finish something I believe will make a difference.


Urging new hires to reach for their full potential and accepting nothing less.


Bringing a new idea to the training landscape to push the boundaries of learning.


Sitting next to a new hire and watching them “get it” for the first time.


Standing in front of a class for the first time and sharing the amazing opportunity they have before them.


Staying late and explaining a concept to someone until they truly understand it.


Receiving an email about a first sale that makes me smile.

Spending some serious time deciding what you can commit you heart, energy and desire to will allow you to become a far more productive employee and lead a much more fulfilling life. Remember, you can always learn something new or be better at your job, but no one can ever question your passion.