Audience or Actor

At the peak of my business life (so far), I had 1500 salespeople working for my company. Every year we had an industry event where we would gather vendors to push their wares to our sales people at our own convention. It was fun and offered us the opportunity to design the events to our sales people’s specific needs and interests. I learned a bit about human nature during this time. Our salespeople were 100% commissioned and ate what they killed. Therefore, their motivations correlated to their actions which I conclude determined their income success. You’d think they would be interested in learning how to dramatically increase their income by just tweaking their efforts (not a massive overhaul) and market more effectively. Well, I thought so. So we got our top loan producer who was methodical in his marketing and induced him to create a presentation on his proven methodologies. We heavily promoted this seminar for our event.

The event overall was attended by about 400 people. Huge success. Our presenter had three sold out sessions totaling 120 people. Those interested in a FREE one on one follow up had only to write down his email address and contact him. Ok: Top salesman, proven system, easy to do, subsidized by company, nothing in the way to success but effort. How many followed up with an email? How many? Proven system…FREE, hmm?

Did you guess 13?

Yup, 13 people sent the email. 13!…And only 1 followed up to get the training. That 1 went on to become a top producer which resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional commissions to her.

This story is classic human nature. There are 119 reasons why those in attendance didn’t take the initiative. Let me propose one big reason: It is human nature to not get involved and instead live on existing momentum. It’s momentum that has a person remain in the audience. It’s easier to stay seated in the crowd and not stick out and look foolish, waste one’s time, commit to an idea not your own, risk being conned or consumed, to re-prioritize one’s calendar, or risk being bold and deal with the consequences of success or failure. In other words, it’s easier to do the same things tomorrow as you did yesterday than to motivate yourself to a new trajectory.

Granted, a few of the 119 were doing ok financially, but the vast majority weren’t. They could have changed their behavior, gotten themselves motivated, and ACTED!!, and reaped more from the same 24 hours in a day. It seemed to me to be a no-brainer. Yet, for them it was more comfortable to be in the audience than being on stage and giving the presentation. They were passive in business and I surmise passive in life.

As you think about your life, how can you take the initiative to disrupt your existing momentum and get out of the anonymity of the audience and onto the stage of your life. Here’s a more direct question: What can you do this month to get on stage and be the star actor in your life?

To disrupting momentum success,

Dave Marr