As I read the blogs that come to me on mortgage marketing and mortgage sales training, one of the things I’m amazed by is that no one is writing about what I consider to be one of the most important foundational things for sales people regardless of what industry you’re in. And that’s personal development.

I talk with a lot of mortgage sales people and when I ask them to explain to me what their personal development program consists of they get a blank stare on their face. Why is that? Why are we so interested in the "how to" of sales but we’re not nearly as concerned as to why we do certain things?

When we as salespeople go to seminars we’re always ready for the closing techniques or the contact and inviting techniques or the best scripts to use and the best ratios to shoot for. In my opinion, we’re missing the most important piece: We have to develop ourselves on the inside before anything on the outside is going to work.

The inner motivation we practice is the key to making everything else on the outside work. When was the last time you picked up and read a personal development book? When was the last time you listened to some motivational material in the car while traveling between appointments? When was the last time you attended a seminar that expanded your knowledge or taught you how to deal with yourself or other people? If you can’t remember, then that’s not good.

Most people who can remember when they did those things may be saying, "Yeah I read that book once." Or, "I heard that Zig Ziglar tape several years ago." Let me give you a secret: Even if you only have one personal development book or one motivational tape or CD set, here it is – You can listen to it or read it again.  In fact, you can listen to it or read it over and over and over again, and it won’t hurt you!

If you don’t know where to start, I have a listing of the best one’s to start with on my website. Any one of them will provide a great starting point for you.

Here is my challenge for you. Forget all the techniques and things you have to do just for the time being and begin to work on the things that will help you be a better sales person, a better husband or wife and a better father or mother or friend. When you begin to work on those things, what I call the Inner Foundations, all the other things will fall into place. I believe in you!