Remote professional selling, or Inside Sales, is tough – lots of activity and not always a lot of revenue to show for it. Suddenly your first deal closes – or your first deal after a slump - or enough deals to get you to the next level in your comp plan – and wow, is sales great!
Because of the feast or famine mentality that can happen in a professional selling career, and because of the things we say internally to ourselves, having a primary positive attitude is crucial for your success.
Drop out of the “Ain’t it awful” club and surround yourself with successful people. - Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield wrote a great book called The Success Principles. I highly recommend it because attitude is so important in your sales career. Watch his hour-long video Success Principles for a big attitude adjustment boost. I don't know Jack, but I have read his Chicken Soup book series over the years and like his approach. It really fits for sales professionals and those running a sales team.
Research over the years has found that positive attitudes impact sales success. One of the pioneers of this research is Dr. Martin Seligman. He is known as the father of positive psychology.
Seligman spent years studying the relationship between positive attitudes and sales success. He worked with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and realized a correlation between an assessment he did with the sales reps to determine their level of optimism and their actual sales production. The sales agents scoring in the top 10% for optimism in his assessment sold 88% more than those who ranked in the most pessimistic 10%.
Challenge your self-limiting beliefs. We all have them. Great salespeople have much fewer when it comes to beliefs about prospects or the future. Poor sellers think, “No one really likes to be interrupted by my phone calls.”
Top sellers think, “I represent the best company in my industry. It is upon me to reach out until my prospect and I connect.”
To challenge your beliefs, and be more open to optimism, think of yourself as a learner when you are new to a job or new to a territory, or have new products and services put on you to sell.
Learners are different from students. A learner can’t wait to see what is around the corner – what lessons are in store from the latest campaign or round of phone calls. A learner gets a new territory and they create a plan to "own" that territory rather than mull over why it won't work.
A student mindset, on the other hand, can learn but they don’t necessarily thirst for answers like a true learner does. The learner figures things out. They don't wait to be told - they make progress and share their learning.
In speaking about self-limiting beliefs, learn what yours are. Are you aware that you can change them?
Can you think of yourself as a learner to rid yourself of limitations and grow your sales?
Here is a great TED talk by Neil Pasricha on The 3 A's of Awesome for more inspiration.
Lori Richardson is recognized on Forbes as one of the "Top 30 Social Sales Influencers" worldwide. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside sales teams in mid-sized 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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