It is a tricky thing in sales careers when it comes to confidence. You can have all of the confidence in the world about yourself and have great self-worth.
Even for those successful and accomplished individuals, when you have a new job selling products or services new to you, confidence seems to often come off as shaky. You want the basic amount of knowledge needed to be successful - to feel successful.
Confidence means, "firm trust". Synonyms are trust, belief, faith, credence, conviction.
Self confidence is "a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something" - Merriam Webster Dictionary
How could even a confident person be confident as a newer sales rep? Here are two ideas.
1.Quick Wins. I talked about quick wins recently - whether your manager assists you or you do it on your own, find low-hanging opportunities you can bring to closure - buyers who are very close to buying, and gain the muscle memory of closing a deal in your newer role. There is NO substitution for working with a real, potential buyer and moving the opportunity forward to closure. The idea of teaming a rep up to help support another rep can be the next best thing.
2.Use the A.C.E. Formula:
- ACT confident about your products and services. Carry yourself as a successful person at work. Speak up and use language in your phone conversations and voice mail messages that match up with any C-level contact you may have. Eliminate phrases like, "If you have a chance to give me a quick call back" to simply, "Call me back at xxx-xxxx." Act the part.
- CRAFT messaging that piques a buyer's interest. There is no quicker way to gain respect than when someone is speaking your language - knows your issues and feels your challenges. If people are not ever responding to your voice mail messages - you are not offering anything of interest to them. Quit wasting your time and damaging your company's brand - re-tool your sales messaging.
- EXPERIENCE success. Be on a colleague's phone call with prospective buyers to hear what they are asking about and what they are focused on in their position. Make your own calls and get to talking with anyone - if the executives you are targeting are not connecting with you, try a sales rep at that company. Sellers understand the challenges of the sales profession and can sometimes offer you a quick idea on when to reach someone or on what would most interest them.
I got into a $500K deal once simply by talking with a sales rep from the prospective company who became my internal coach there and guided me through their crazy internal politics. I have also been a coach to other vendors at companies I was in a sales role with.
Mark Twain said that to be successful in life you need two things: ignorance and confidence. If you are not a confident person deep down, the good news is that you CAN develop that. For starters, one of the best groups you can join is Toastmasters - written about here many times before. It is a place you learn leadership and communication skills - critical for success in a sales career.
Find out ways you can either gain confidence in general or just be more confident with your new role learning about new products and services.
We have talked about confidence quite a bit on this blog - you can also see these posts:
Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the "Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2013" and one of "20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2013". Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute" newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.
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