It’s not the good days that make or break your people.The Down Day Decides.
“The decision to succeed does not happen once.
It happens every single day. In fact, several times a day, by the actions you take and do not take.” On the good days it takes care of itself. On the day after the lost deal, it doesn’t. This keynote is about that day, and the method that wins it.
Arm your people for the down day.
Your top people hit the number. The middle of the board could, and doesn’t.
Your people have had the training. The gap isn’t knowledge. It’s the call they don’t make the morning after a “no.”
The kickoff high is gone by the first bad week.
They walk out of your general session lit up. Then a deal dies on Tuesday, and by Friday it’s business as usual.
You recruit them, train them, and lose them in their first slump.
Every new hire hits a stretch where nothing closes. What they decide in that stretch is whether they stay. In a study of life insurance agents, new hires who explained setbacks optimistically stayed at twice the rate.
“The market’s slow” spreads faster than any best practice.
Once a slow-market story takes hold on a team, it travels. Gartner found sellers low in what it calls “drag” averaged 1.7 times the quota attainment of sellers high in it.
Your managers can see who’s sinking.
They need something better to say on Monday than “hang in there.” This keynote gives them a two-minute tool for exactly that.
Your people will laugh, some of them will cry, and every one of them leaves with three questions for the day it goes wrong, an absolute in place of a goal, and a signed card: “If it’s a down day, then I will ___.” Your managers leave with a two-minute weekly tool that keeps it alive.
“Not a single one of your boys will ever grow up to be anything.”
Terry L. Fossum grew up in McAllen, Texas, the poorest city in the United States, surrounded by gangs and drugs. As a boy, he faced down an assault rifle in his own back alley.
When he was in high school, his father was killed. Before he died, a neighbor told his father that not a single one of his boys would ever grow up to be anything. Terry never forgot it.
Terry set out to prove him wrong. As a captain in the United States Air Force, he started a business on the side and built it, slowly and painfully, a few minutes at a time.
Then, literally overnight, he lost three-fourths of his income. He wanted to quit. He walked into his bathroom, looked at himself in the mirror, and heard the neighbor’s sentence in his own voice: “I guess he was right.”
That was his down day, and it was a decision point. What he decided at that mirror took him to the top fraction of 1% of a global industry. The night didn’t make him successful. It decided which way the line went.
Success isn’t a straight line. Every dip is a decision.
Everyone has seen the drawing: the line people expect, and the jagged one they actually get. What nobody marks is the bottom of each dip. That’s where your people decide, usually alone and usually after a bad day, whether the line keeps climbing or quietly turns over. One down day never ruined anyone. What they decide on it is another story.
What your people will do on the next bad day.
Set an absolute, not a goal.
A goal is something you try to do. An absolute is something you will do, come heck or high water. On the down day, “try” is the first thing to go.
No “I’ll make it up tomorrow.”
“If I slack today, I’ll be more likely to slack tomorrow… and then two will be the norm. And then one.” The down day is exactly when today’s work gets done.
Name the excuse out loud.
Write it down, then write the solution next to it. There are two things: results and excuses. If it’s not a result, it’s merely an excuse. And success doesn’t care what your excuses are.
Put a clock on the pity party.
Everyone gets knocked down. How long you stay there is completely in your control. Feel it, then get up one more time.
Decide your down-day move in advance.
One line, written before the bad day arrives: “If it’s a down day, then I will ___.” The people who decide in advance are the people who follow through.
Ask the three questions.
At the mirror, by name: powerless or powerful? Victim or victor? Conquered or conqueror? Talking to yourself the way a coach would steadies you under pressure.
See what your people will see.
Standing ovations, from sales floors to business schools.
“Terry’s presentation was inspiring and uplifting, resulting in a standing ovation by all in attendance. I recommend Terry for anyone looking for a motivating speaker that walks the walk and talks the talk.”
“I am recommending Terry Fossum for any high-quality speaking engagement where you need a world-class speaker — and in particular when you want the speaker to get the audience to take action.”
“Terry’s delivery hits with impact and is powerful. He is great for a small group of 10 to 15 or for audiences over 1,000 — I have seen him connect with all of them.”
“His energy, passion and storytelling style captivated everyone in attendance. Terry is definitely the best speaker we have had the pleasure to hear at this event in many years!”
The research behind the down day.
more insurance sold in their first two years by life insurance agents who explained setbacks optimistically. New hires who scored that way stayed in the job at twice the rate.
Seligman & Schulman, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986
the quota attainment of B2B sellers low in what Gartner calls “drag,” compared with sellers high in it. Of 908 sellers surveyed, 89% said they felt burned out.
Gartner, 2022
tests found that people who decided in advance “if this happens, I’ll do that” reached their goals noticeably more often than people who only intended to.
Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006
missed did not materially affect how a new habit formed. So the miss isn’t what decides it. What you do next is.
Lally et al., European Journal of Social Psychology
He’s had the down days. Here’s what he decided.
- #1Author of The Oxcart Technique, a #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller, and its second edition, Never Miss a Goal Again
- #2New TEDx Talk in the World: “Why You Didn’t Reach That Goal… Again,” named one of the 30 most impactful TEDx talks of this century by Los Angeles Business magazine
- <1%Reached the top fraction of 1% in worldwide direct sales
- USAFU.S. Air Force Captain and Executive Officer
- WonThe prime-time survival competition Kicking & Screaming, as its oldest competitor
Who is this keynote for?
People who get paid on results: insurance agencies and IMOs, financial advisors, real estate brokerages, automotive dealer groups, direct-sales companies, and B2B sales teams. It fits sales kickoffs, annual conventions, President’s Club events, and any room full of people who have to make themselves act.
Is this a motivational talk?
Yes, and more than that. Your people will laugh, some of them will cry, and they will leave moved, not just informed. Then there is the playbook: the room gets the energy, and it also leaves with specific actions for the day it goes wrong: an absolute, a named excuse, a down-day plan written in advance. Built from Terry L. Fossum’s own worst days and the method behind his #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller.
What does “down day” mean here?
The day the results go against you: the lost deal, the no-show month, the fifth “no” in a row. It is not a reference to depression. Clinical depression is a medical matter, and nothing in this keynote treats it as a willpower problem.
How long is it?
45 to 60 minutes, customized to your industry and your people’s real down days.
No more someday.
Bring The Down Day Decides to your next kickoff, convention, or sales meeting.
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