The professionals in telemarketing know that they can’t depend on management to motivate them. They also realize that their next sale may not lift their spirits enough to counteract a slump. They know that they must pull themselves out of any sales slump, or better yet, not even allow such a slump to start. At the first sign of dark clouds rolling (several rejected proposals in a row or an avalanche of customer service complaints), they reach into their bag of positive pick-me-ups. Following are 11 tested telemarketing tune-ups just right for the telemarketer who needs ongoing positive performance boosters.

1. Positive Sales Talk

Have a list of positive affirmations on hand and read them out loud several times. Also- – have a key word or phrase to use when people ask how you’re doing. Start saying things like, “Great,” or “Super” and “Getting better by the minute,” or perhaps, “Fantastic.” After using this word or phrase 10 or 20 times, it will give you something to live up to, and you will actually start to convince your subconscious mind that you really are super, great or fantastic.

2. Control Your Emotions

Top pros learn to sell with emotion but they don’t allow themselves to get emotionally involved with their clients. By controlling your emotions, you can turn them on when needed, and off when they were not needed or useful.

3. Feed Your Mind

When internal control fails, use an outside influence like cassette tapes. By listening to your favorite motivational speaker, you are guaranteed an instant lift. Another great idea is to listen to a tape made of one of your largest or best sales so you can hear how good you really can be. Tell yourself you are a pro; repeat to yourself, “When I’m bad I’m good and when I’m good I’m awesome.”

4. Reward Yourself

Try having a simple arrangement of fresh flowers delivered to your office every Monday. Or, reward yourself with a massage, a new piece of clothing, a nice dinner, or even your own plaque. We all have egos as big as elephants and we can’t always wait around for management to stroke them for us. Be nice to yourself today. By liking yourself, you make it easier for other people to like you also.

5. Associate with Winners

Whatever you do, when you’re down, don’t go to somebody else who is as miserable as you are. Two unhappy people can destroy each other’s morale in a matter of minutes. Instead, go to someone who is at, or near, the top of your company’s production and let his positive spirits run off on you. Associate and spend time with winners. They have the keys to success.

6. Manage Your Time

The most successful self-made person and the hungry job hunter have one thing in common. They both have 24 hours in their time bank each day. It’s up to each of us to waste our time foolishly or invest it wisely. Time is our most important asset. Telemarketing is like horseback riding – if you get thrown off – have a bad call – get back on the horse, or the phone, and ride on. Don’t allow time for negative thought to steal any of your precious 24 hours away.

7. Accept Total Responsibility

The top pros realize that they can’t blame anyone else or anything else for their lack of success. Most self-made people are proud to tell the world but you’ll never see anyone proclaim that he or she is a self-made failure and proud of it. Realize that “If it is to be, it’s up to me.” The rest of the world doesn’t care if you make it or not, that’s your responsibility.

8. Turn Negatives Into Positives

Most of us can’t change a lot of the negatives that happen to us and around us. We can, however, change how we react to those negatives. We can let them destroy our day, our week, our month, our year, or yes, even our whole career. Always look for the bright side of everything. Explore the possibilities and allow yourself to become creative.

9. Set Goals & Keep An Accomplishment List

Only about 3 percent of the world’s population has well defined and written down goals. Would you believe that those are also the leaders and top professionals in every industry? Coincidence?…hardly. Think big and dream about what you want to be and do and dare to live your dreams. Once you start accomplishing your goals, keep an accomplishment list. This comes in handy when you start to doubt your abilities or progress. Simply take out your list and see for yourself how far you’ve come in the last few months or last few years.

10. Tape & Critique Yourself

By taping at least your side of the phone conversation, you’ll be able to determine your strengths and weaknesses and act on them. Tape at least one call each week and write down 2 or 3 areas that you want to improve in. Then put them in the form of a positive affirmation, such as “I am enthusiastic on every call,” and tape it near your phone. Your subconscious mind will pick it up dozens of times each day and direct your conscious mind to accomplish these short term goals for you.

11. Make Your Commitment

Until we make a commitment, we are only taking up time and space in the world. Make the commitment now to become the best you can become. Any time you start to doubt yourself, recommit yourself to excellence. We can’t all be number one in our company, but we can all sure strive for our own top performance.

Stan Billue is one of the top telemarketing sales trainers in the country. He specializes in writing scripts and live seminars for telemarketing companies. His audio cassette tape series, Double Your Income Selling on the Phone, is a classic in the telemarketing industry. Stan is president of Double Five Inc., P.O. Box 267, DeBary, FL 32713, (305) 668-4058.