Schools of up to 300+ Hammerhead sharks, churning balls of 10,000 Trevally, turtles, Leopard sharks, Gray Reef sharks, a stunning array of 98% coral cover…

These were some of my daily sights in 1997 when I used to work as a diving instructor at a 5* resort called Layang Layang, a 2000m deep coral island pinnacle 320km north west off the coast of Borneo in the South China Sea. An amazing place to be.

However, one particular day, I remember waking up ready for the first dive of the day with my new dive group, and I was very tired & jaded. I’d had a hard 2 weeks, diving 4 times a day & socialising every night in the bar looking after my last lot guests (yes, tough life I know! – that’s my point, please read on).

That morning, I really wasn’t looking forward to going diving at all. I really was more than a bit over it all. I’d completely lost my passion for it. Yes, even paradise can get tough, it seems!

However, on the way to the dive boat, I stopped – and a sudden realisation hit me. What the hell was I thinking?

Here I was, a young (ok, youngish!), fit, single bloke living in paradise, getting paid to dive in what is one of world’s top dive destinations, paid to drink, socialise & live the high life in a 5-star resort! What an idiot! What more could a man ask for?

Once I’d taken time out to stop & really think about it, the passion for what I was doing came flooding back to me. I remembered why I was here, what I loved about it, what I was doing it for. It put a smile on my face again, & off I went for another spectacular dive (only a mere 30 Hammerhead sharks on the dive though!).

That afternoon, I was giving a briefing about the wonders of the night dive in the lagoon, scheduled for that evening. In the morning, I’d been thinking “not another night dive, what a pain…” but now I’d got back in touch with my passion for it all, I had a very different attitude.

As a result of the passion I put into my briefing, all but one of the group of divers came out on the night dive with me – unheard of! Half the group was the norm. And a great result for me, as I got paid a commission for each night diver.

Later that evening, over a few cold beers, quenching a thirst built up from the diving & the tropical heat, a very beautiful French lady came over to me. In an outrageous French accent, she said:  “Simon, I normally do not like ze night dives, zey do not interest me, but you spoke wiz such passion about it in ze briefing zis afternoon, I ‘ad to go on ze dive”.

I won’t talk about the rest of the evening – that was in my young, carefree, single days so it’s a story for a few drinks! – but there are two points to the story which are very applicable to businesses and people in them today.

The first point is that no matter what you do, you can – and people do – lose the passion for it. We get caught up in the daily grind & humdrum of it all. We forget the whole reason why we’re doing it. We forget what we love about it all. It slips away from us and we become tired & jaded, just like I was.

At some stage, we all need to stop & make time to realise what we do, why we do it, & how much we really do enjoy it, and how much it really means to us – despite what might be some seemingly tough times.

Take some time out. Stop. Think. Smile. Get back in touch with what you are passionate about in your business or your work.

The second point is that passion sells! Passion is contagious. People buy passion. Be it in your business, an interview, at home. And they will often buy your passion & enthusiasm over & above the most polished, unpassionate product or presentation.

So, before you go into any meeting, before you pick up the phone, before you go networking, before you talk to your staff, before any important business or sales meeting, before that interview:

Stop! Think. Smile. Get in touch with your passion for what you do. Get it coursing through your veins.

You will make more sales, you will have better client relationships and better clients, you will have more motivated staff, you will do better business. And you will be a happier business owner!

People buy people who are passionate about what they do. More passion = more sales. Passion sells!

A coach can help you get your passion back & help you get more sales. If you are interested in talking to us about this, please check out the website at www.southerncrosscoaching.com.au , give us a call on 02 9474 1005 or email info@southerncrosscoaching.com.au

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 9:20 am and is filed under Business Coaching, Career Coaching, Coaching, Executive Coaching, Southern Cross Coaching & Development, Staff management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.