In life, as well as sales, you have to pick a side-the side of clarity or one of confusion. Legendary Green Bay Packers coach, Vince Lombardi used to say, “It’s hard to be aggressive when you are confused.” When you are playing in a state of confusion, you are playing with the mindset not to lose instead of aggressively playing to win. It’s no secret, that our industry can be chaotic. In the middle of a demonstration the check engine light comes on, breaking the rhythm of your sale; the last deal of the night, you were the David Copperfield of the blacktop, magically transforming a reluctant shopper into a buyer, saving not only the day, but also your month-only this morning, it’s a rollback; last night’s victory becomes today’s surrender.  While your thin-iced customers are barely signing in finance, you’re broken down at the gas station in their new car-after hours of hard work your deal may be vaporized. Mr. and Mrs. Jekyll turned into The Hyde’s, abruptly cancelling negotiations and demanding their keys back after you showed them what their trade was worth. Regardless of coasts, we’ve all got familiar stories like these that could literally fill volumes.

In our business, every day is, Night at the Improv; without a moment’s notice, we have to be ready and adaptive for anything. Those who excel in sales have clarity, even in the midst of chaos. When things awry, unsuccessful people ask unproductive questions like, “Why did this happen to me," whereas successful sales people ask, "What?" Instead of whying in bed at night or whying themselves to sleep, successful people ask, "What's my next move? What am I going to do with the next opportunity that comes in the form of an Up, lead, or phone call, or prospect? What could I do better the next time I'm faced with this same situation?"

Confusion sets in when you have no clarity, no clear direction- and when you have no clear direction, you’ll net victim like results. Victims of the blacktop receive the scraps of success called mediocrity-they’re so busy defending the reasons of why it’s of no fault of their own that they’re walking away with break-even draw checks whereas culprits of success have clearly defined their daily, monthly, yearly and beyond goals. Because of their clarity, they can then work aggressively in pursuing their goals. In spite of the delays, setbacks, and adversities, they continue to push to the front of the line of excellence.

We are all leaders whether it be of one or many, but great leaders have the ability to silence the externals and crank up the internals. With a few ticks left in the game, quarterbacks move their team methodically down the field to score; with the seconds of life slipping away, doctors work to stabilize the patient; facing severe wind shear, pilots maneuver their flaps and land hundreds safely. When you’re facing an abysmal month, draw on the internal resources of clarity to help see you through. The truth is, we’ve all been in dire situations-teams were close, yet still lost; doctors worked furiously yet reached sad outcomes; pilots maneuvered yet Mother Nature had other ideas. You’ve pulled some months out, and other times you just ran out of time- and that's ok.  It’s ok to be down; it’s not ok to be out. Confusion fights to keep you off track; clarity nudges you back on.

No matter the circumstances, don’t let the chaos of the moment or the calamities of that which is uncontrollable to ever interfere with your clarity. Clarity of who you are and what you are capable of draws comfort out of the chaos. Those tagged with nerves of steel and seem to have ice water running through their veins are people who have clarity.

Pick a side. Clarity crowns champions; confusion enshrines cowards. The choice is all yours. I’ll see you next time on the blacktop. 

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