Do you love sales?

Do you love what you do?

Do you love your product?

Do you love your company?

Do you love your customers?

These are not questions I pulled out of the air. These are questions that directly affect your productivity, your attitude, your income, your success and your fulfillment — not to mention your longevity at your present job.

Many salespeople are reluctant to come to grips with why they are in sales and why they are in their present jobs. If you don’t love what you do, you’re doing no one a favor by staying put. Your attitude and morale will be negative, you’ll complain about everything, and you’ll blame everyone else and their dog for your unhappiness and inadequacy.

Furthermore, your boss will be all over you to increase your numbers. Your customers will be upset about your lack of attention. In general, you will hover at a level of mediocrity.

Some salespeople hate their job but stay because they “make a lot of money.” That’s the worst reason to keep a job. When money is your motive, it’s all about making the sale without regard to building the relationship — a formula for long-term disaster.

Oh, you may have some short-term success, but when you’re home at night, you’ll be drowning your misery in television, beer — anything but preparation for the next day.

You can get away with this behavior for a short time, but in the end, you’ll be perusing the “Help Wanted” section of the Sunday paper or posting your resume online, hoping for a better opportunity.

It’s most interesting to me that the salespeople looking for a “better opportunity” are the very ones not looking in their own back yard. Most salespeople fail to realize that when they become the best they can be, they will attract the right offers rather than seek them.

Let me flip back to the positive side. The purpose of this article is to give you a formula you can use to figure out if you’re in the right place or how to find the right place.

Here’s the formula: If you’re in sales and you love sales, first ask yourself, “If I could sell anything, what would I sell?” If the answer to that question is not what you’re currently selling, you have uncovered part of the problem. However, this formula is not about switching jobs immediately. It’s about becoming the best salesperson you can be in each job you commit to. If you’re going to leave your current job for another job, why don’t you set the company sales record before you walk out the door?

Selling is a lot like running races. You don’t have to win every race, but you must try to achieve your personal best each time you compete.

If your numbers are low or mediocre at one place, what makes you think they will be better someplace else? You see, the formula involves more than simply loving what you do. It’s also about possessing the skills to do what you love (or dedicating yourself to getting them).

Once you’ve determined what you love to do and dedicate yourself to obtaining the skills, the third part of the formula is about believing. You must believe in your company, your product, your service and yourself. If you believe deeply that everything is “best,” you’ll deliver your message so enthusiastically that others will catch your passion. A deep self-belief will create enthusiasm, and a deep self-belief will create passion.

The final part of the formula involves your attitude. Attitude starts from within. It’s the mood you’re in when you wake up in the morning, the mood you stay in all day long and the mood you’re in when you go to bed.

Attitude is not a feeling. Attitude is a lifelong dedication to the study of positive thought and the character and charisma you display as you interact with others. If it’s not internal, it can never be external.

Now you have the formula. And no, I’m not going to summarize it. If you want it, you’ll read this article again and again.

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of “The Sales Bible,” is now offering licensed training programs to corporations and distributorships to individuals, based on his books and the TrainOne online learning series. He can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.