| We believe that your current slope - your direction - is more important than your current intercept - your sales level. It's true in sales and life.
Clark G. Gilbert is CEO of Deseret Digital Media. He recently commented on the role of slope in life. He said, "To demonstrate this principle, I will draw on some basic math. It starts with the formula for a line. The intercept, for our purposes, is the beginning of our line.
We all have different intercepts in life—we start in different places with different life endowments. Some are born with high intercepts, full of opportunity. Others face beginning circumstances that are challenging and seem unfair. We then progress along a slope of personal progress. Our future will be determined far less by our starting point and much more by our slope.
Let me share two areas of counsel for those with elevated starting points. First, can we show some humility for circumstances we may not have created ourselves? As Rex Lee said, “We have all drunk from wells we did not dig, and warmed ourselves by fires we did not build.”
Second, focusing on a high starting point can often trap us into feeling that we are thriving when in fact our inner slope may be quite stagnant. Harvard professor Clayton M. Christensen taught that the most successful people are the humblest because they are confident enough to be corrected by and learn from anyone.
Wise sales professionals willingly find ways to accept and even seek correction. Even when things appear to be going well, we can seek opportunities to improve.
Living a continuous improvement process keeps our slope positive and intercept high.
Good luck and good selling.
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