The biggest issue I see with salespeople, by far, is a lack of confidence. While most salespeople deal with this in quiet desperation, there are also the loud ego-maniacs who, while seeming to have too much confidence, in reality also don’t have enough and are simply overcompensating. This lack of confidence and belief leads to a fear of making phone calls, knocking on doors, and otherwise doing whatever it takes to be successful.
Five Rules for Increased Confidence
Rule #1: Stop making excuses and instead, develop your sales skills.
Two days ago someone told me the only reason he lost a $250,000 deal because he was $2,000 higher than the competition. He then went on to tell me that his area is different from every area of the country and people really do buy solely on price.
That’s an excuse I hear about once a week. Ten out of ten times, when I research their market and find the company doing the most business, the top company is always selling more expensive products to the same people who supposedly buy only on price. The truth is: your market is not the exception to the rule, price is simply an excuse for not doing the hard work of developing sales skills and learning to sell value.
There are the obvious excuses people use such as: the economy, “our prices are too high”, and “there’s too much competition”, and then there are the less obvious ones that the powerful subconscious brain creates to protect our fragile egos and save us from stepping out of our comfort zone. For example, I once had a Financial Planner tell me that the reason he doesn’t ask for referrals is because he “knows a guy” whose client got irritated and closed his account because he was asked for a referral. Has that ever happened? Maybe. Assuming you’re asking nicely and not constantly beating them over the head, the odds are probably 1 in 10,000,000. This leads to another issue I see a lot: Living as if the exception is the rule. Living your life afraid of the exception, the 1 in 10,000,000, will ensure you have no life and no business. In fact, if you ran your whole life according to odds like that, you’d never get in a car, leave the house, or even get out of bed for that matter.
We come up with the most ridiculous, unlikely scenarios to avoid facing our fears. The key is to realize all excuses are just that: excuses, and whatever one you come up with, someone has had it worse and overcome it. So whatever excuse you keep repeating, stop it!! At the end of the day, price, the competition, and your significant other have nothing to do with where you end up, the only one who determines that is you.
Rule #2: Get completely sold on your product, your company, and you.
I have seen the most timid people become the most confident, persuasive salespeople when they believed in their product and what they were doing. I once watched a young stock broker who only opened three accounts in four months, open three in an hour when news came out on the stock he was pitching and it started to go up in price. He was possessed and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He knew people were going to benefit. If you have a deep knowing, an absolute belief and conviction that you unequivocally have the best product, and one that can help people, you will move Heaven and Earth to get the word out and make sure everyone has it.
Rule #3: Prepare.
The more prepared you are, the more confident you will be. You need to know your product and be ready for anything that comes up on the sales call. You need to have solid answers for every question, objection, issue, and customer situation you might run into. The answers need to be committed to memory and roll off your tongue to the point where if someone were to wake you at 3 a.m., you’d be able to answer immediately.
Rule #4: Get comfortable being uncomfortable, and face and conquer your fears.
These two will do more to build your confidence and self-esteem than almost anything else. In the most important times in your life you will be uncomfortable and also a bit fearful. How many times in those situations did you do or say something you wish you hadn’t, or didn’t do or say something you wish you had? Look for uncomfortable situations, put yourself in them, and embrace them. What you’ll realize is that very few things in life are in fact life and death. When you come to this realization, you’ll simply take a deep breath, relax, and do and say what you need to.
“That cave you’re afraid to go into holds the treasures you’re looking for.” Fears create blind spots. When you overcome them you’ll wake up one day and see things you never saw. They’ve been there all along, your fears just simply wouldn’t let you see them. When you overcome a fear, you will be empowered and begin to run at fears as opposed to away from them.
Rule #5: Work on motivation and self-discipline
The fastest way to motivation is to realize WHY you’re doing what you’re doing. What is the ultimate goal and payoff? To find your WHY, decide what you really want out of life. What do you want your life to ultimately look like? What do you want for your family and your kids? What do you want to be able to do? With a powerful enough WHY, you will face any fear and endure through anything.
Self-discipline is getting in the habit of doing what you need to do every day whether you feel like it or not. If you can simply get in a daily routine and make everything you have to do a habit, the locked in habits will usually be enough to keep you going and on track.
Here are some additional tips:
- Fake it ‘til you make it. Act as if you already possess the confidence you need.
- Get someone to hold you accountable.
- Engage in self-confidence and self-esteem building activities.
- Stopping taking things personally.
- Stop caring what others think of you.
John Chapin is a sales and motivational speaker and trainer. For his free newsletter, or if you would like him to speak at your next event, go to: www.completeselling.com John has over 26 years of sales experience as a number one sales rep and is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia. For permission to reprint, e-mail: johnchapin@completeselling.com.
