The biggest thing that effect sales people sometimes is fear.
Fear of rejection. Fear of quotas. Fear of no. Fear of the competition. The best thing for any fear is to face it. That is why I came up with this acronym. Facing. Enormous. Adversity. Realistically/Responsibly.
As we face any fear, we usually find that we had built up that fear in our mind. That is why I put enormous into quotes. The quotes signify that the "enormous" adversity is usually only enormous in our mind. Once we walk into the fear, once we deal with what we are afraid of realistically, we usually find that it was not such a big deal after all.
Facing rejection, we come to understand, "how can we lose what we do not have anyway." If you do not have the customer and they say no, you haven't lost, you've actually won, because you can move on, learn a lesson or persist and win. You could also take a risk at no and win as well. Make it your goal each day to meet five new people. Not necessarily prospects. New people must know people who need what you sell. Make your goal to help five people sell what they sell. By helping others, you will have an army of people who will want to help you.
Fear of Quotas? Just keep on making calls. If you manage your behavior each day in sales, quotas take care of themselves. Ask for help, ask for referrals, look for ways to help your customers make sales as well and they will be on the look out for you.
Fear of no, see rejection above. At no, pull out the stops. You are already at no. Ask a few questions at no. "Now that you've said no, would you mind telling me why?" "Is there something I could have done better?" "Is it that you always say no to sales people on the first call?" "If I had some new ideas to help your company improve productivity or increase sales and profits, would you like to hear them,( pause and listen) now or at some future time?" Have some questions ready for when you hear no and again you have faced your biggest fear.
To help you face your biggest fear, why not bring it up yourself? Why wait for your customer or prospect to? You ask.
Fear of the competition. We cannot control what our competition does. We can only control ourselves. Keep your eye on what your competition is doing, learn what you can, adjust if you see that there is something to learn from them, otherwise, keep the focus on making you and your company better. You can only control you. By staying focused on what you can control, by improving constantly, you will find that the fear of the competition goes away.
When you find your thoughts racing with thoughts of fear, ask yourself is this realistic or am I racing ahead to a future that has not happened yet and only has a small chance of actually happening? Stay realistic, stay in the moment. Often, our thinking is not based on what is really so at the moment. Our mind has a way of playing out the worst possible scenario instead of the best possible one. If you catch yourself playing out the worst, switch back to, and actually see the best possible solutions playing out. Visualization is a powerful tool to manifest what we truly desire in our life.
Some times fear plays an important role in keeping us safe. If your personal safety is at risk or you feel that way, pay attention to that fear and do the responsible thing.
Facing "Enormous" Adversity Realistically/Responsibly, follow these simples instructions and remember this acronym and you will find a happier, successful life is what follows.
Are you afraid?
Try it.
Gratefully yours, Steve |
