"Disappointments are inevitable; discouragement is a choice"
Charles Stanley
Sales professionals constantly face the temptation to give into discouragement. Bad news and rejection are inevitable in sales. What's important is how you handle it.
Let's be honest, we all get discouraged. It’s just one of those potholes we face as we navigate down the road called sales.
When we get discouraged our attitude, belief and emotions turn negative. When this happens our productivity plummets, we tend to retreat, withdraw and bitch about everything. The risk of giving up on whatever we’re working towards starts to run amuck.
A career in sales is not for the light-hearted. Hitting or overachieving steep quotas along with sales managers who reek of commission breath are things sales reps deal with every single day.
We all have limits. And, sometimes, frustration sets in, getting the best of us.
As a sales professional, getting frustrated is a business recipe for disaster. I’m sure you’ve experienced some degree of this within your sales journey.
Discouragement, it interferes with your ability to do things right, things you normally have no issue in handling. Your sales performance suffers. Quotas are not hit which results in even more frustration.
"Discouragement is a constant temptation and something that can be a constant companion if we don't have a strategy."
Sales professionals ask great questions in order to prevent themselves from succumbing to the pity party of discouragement.
They self-reflect for a moment, asking themselves...
- The last time I got discouraged, what worked for me in the past?
- How have other sales professionals and people I look up to overcome discouragement?
- What off-the-wall thing can I do to overcome being frustrated and discouraged?
Knowing the source of discouragement is the first step. You can't take control of something you don't understand.
"Change your sales sob story into a sales success story"
3 STRATEGIES TO USE TO DECLINE THE INVITATION TO THE PITY PARTY
First, let's define a pity party. It's a way of experiencing discouragement, in which you spend time feeling sorry for yourself; whining endlessly about how crappy your sales life has become. Invites are usually sent out to close friends and loved ones. They attend to comfort your poor soul as you ask yourself what you did to deserve the discouragement.
Sales professionals cut out the bitching and just do something about it.
SELF-REFLECTION
Benjamin Franklin said it best, "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Adapt to it and learn to enjoy early mornings. Think about capturing the first hour of every morning to set aside and self-reflect.
Reassess and recharge through mental exercises. The best way to avoid being hit over the head with the mental hammer is exercise. Spend the first hour of every morning clearing out your mind and taking care of your body.
"When your mind is not clear, it starts to play tricks on you"
Secondly, reconnect with your values and reflect on them.
Every morning ask yourself...
- Who am I?
- What am I most proud of?
- What am I most grateful for?
- What did I learn yesterday that I can apply to today to become a better person?
Self-reflection allows us to understand what's important, and focus on what might be done differently.
RECONNECT TO GOALS
Striking out is part of the game of baseball and it happens to all of us in sales. A baseball player misses out 70% of the time but is consider a "stud". Understand that striking out is a part of sales. A true sales professional will use this to reconnect to their goals.
In my last blog, I spoke about recalibrating, reconnecting and recharging to help you crush your second half goals. Overcome discouragement, take out your sales plan and realize failure is built into it. Reconnect with your activity and drill into your activity as this will help you to avoid being frustrated.
Reconnect emotionally to your goals. The nice thing about emotionally reconnecting with your goals is that it's inherently personal. Self-reflect and reconnect back to your goals.
Ask yourself...
- What do I need to do differently?
- What am I willing to change?
Reconnect and refocus... Does the goal still resonate with you? Why is the goal still important to you?
This is a great time to reconnect to what matters.
Check out our latest Selling From The Heart podcast as we discuss "Proactive strategies to overcome discouragement"
REINVEST IN YOU
The sales profession reminds of the National Football League. It's smash mouth, an in your face, full contact business sport. You get knocked down and you must rise back up. You must take rejection and brush it off just like a quarterback sack!
How many dials do you need to make in order to set up one quality appointment? I don't care if the number is 25, 50 or 75; it's downright tough!
The best sales call you can make, is to yourself. I guarantee you will get through 100% of the time!
Investing in yourself has the single best return on investment and combats being discouraged. Invest in learning a new sales skill. Invest in developing yourself personally and professionally. Invest in hiring a coach or mentor. Invest in building better relationships.
Invest in yourself and stay truer to true.
One must give to themselves first before they can give to others. This takes personal commitment but the rewards are well worth it.
Reinvesting in yourself packs a powerful punch!
TIME FOR ACTION
What's your plan the next time you find yourself getting discouraged?
Overcoming discouragement is a temporary obstacle. You must learn how to process it. Once you start executing your plan, the discouragement you feel will leave as quickly as it appeared. Hold on to your vision and your values. No one achieves success without periods of discouragement and failure. Don’t give up. Don't accept the invitation to the pity party!
I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way!
I'm writing a book. The title is Selling From the Heart! I'm pouring my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it.Enter your email address here in this hyperlink and you'll be updated as the book is released. You'll also become part of our launch team. As a thank you, I'll have some special bonuses waiting for you!
You can find more advanced training material inside the Social Sales Academy website.
I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
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