Salespeople differ from customer service people and other knowledge workers in a number of critical ways.

Someone who has a sales personality is similar to athletes, to artists, to performers of all kinds. They prepare, and then they deliver.

They recuperate, they prepare, and they deliver again.

When theyre on, they have to turn it completely on, and hold nothing back.

Sellers, like basketball star Kobe Bryant, are also streaky.

The other night Kobe scored 84 points, coming in second behind all-time NBA great, Wilt Chamberlain. If you remember back to the beginning of the season, Kobe was cold, and he under-performed.

Any Laker fan would say, so what, hes hot now, and its all that matters!

Absolutely!

All that matters is getting to the post season, racking up enough victories to get a shot at the title.

Selling is the same way. We dont have to close everybody; in fact, its impossible.

But when we know were hot, we should never, ever let ourselves stop, because like Kobe, we will get cold, sooner or later, and frighteningly few of our shots will fall into place.

But right now Kobe is in the zone, and he can do no wrong. Its a beautiful thing, isnt it?