There is an old saying in marketing that you should sell the sizzle, not the steak. This means you should focus on the things that are fun and exciting about your products, not just the basic meat and potatoes aspects of your product or service offering. What happens if you are in sales and the sizzle has gone out of your rap? You feel like you no longer have glide in your stride or pep in your step. In short, you are burned out, dull and not motivated. How do you get that exciting sizzle back?

Your boss or spouse could turn up the heat on you to get you going again, but if you wait until that happens, it may be too late and it probably won’t be too much fun. So before things get out of hand, ask yourself a few questions:

• Has there been a decline in your performance?

• Are your conversations and sales pitches boring and not innovative?

• Does it seem like customers are getting harder to please and difficult to deal with?

• Do your competitors have more products than they ever did before that seem better and much easier to sell than the products you represent?

• Does it seem like the whole market and economy are down and making it difficult to sell?

• Were you once a top sales performer, but are now regularly outsold by others?

If you answered yes to two or more of the questions above, you really need to stop fi nding excuses and rationalizing why things are bad, and begin to take a good look at your own activities. Question how you can get that sizzle back. The good news is that if you were once a top sales person, you can probably return to your former peak performance. You can get the pep back in your step and the glide back in your stride.

Ask yourself what you did differently when you were a top salesperson. What were you saying to yourself? Did you have a good internal “self speak” that helped motivate you? Did you give yourself personal pep talks and daily affirmations to keep your energy up?

What has changed since then? Have you lost your drive? Are you bored? Are you wasting time spending valuable energy comparing yourself to others, instead of focusing on your strengths or areas you need to strengthen?

HERE ARE A FEW TIPS TO HELP YOU GET GOING AGAIN:

• Step back from your routine and take a little time to reflect.

• Reestablish your sales targets. (You do consistently set goals, right?)

• Reestablish some life targets. (At the end of the day, what’s going to truly motivate you must have a significant impact not just in business, but also in your personal well-being.)

• Rekindle your passion for sales. Ask yourself, “If I were to get back to the top of my profession, what are some of the benefits I would enjoy? And with whom would I share those benefits?” Visualize what it would be like to enjoy the fruits of your labor and who you might share that feeling with.

Keeping the sizzle in your steak should be a constant focus. Make it part of your everyday actions. Remember that actions lead attitudes. Do the things that make you interesting and persuasive on a regular basis. If you practice your sizzle every day, it will become habit once again. So as you drive to your next sales appointment, or as you do end-of-the-day paperwork, listen to some motivational or training CDs so you make training and motivation part of your lifestyle instead of a special activity.

About the author: Scott Francis is president of Topline Development LLC, a strategic marketing consulting group that helps companies determine how they can make the most amount of money with the least amount of resources. To learn more about Topline Development LLC, visit www.ToplineDevelopment.com or contact Scott directly at Scott@ ToplineDevelopment.com.