The fear of selling and negotiating is holding you back!
From the hundreds of people I’ve helped, there’s a fear that stands out above all the rest!
The fear of selling and negotiating!
I’ve worked in Sales for over 15 years, I’ve been a sales coach for almost 5 years. I’ve worked with a lot of people, yet 90% of my clients were terrified of actually selling and negotiating!
Indeed, when I first started out in sales, I was also terrified. I was paralyzed to pick up the phone, dial a number and have a conversation with someone who had the power to buy something from me.
I was curious, why was it that so many of us seem to have this automatic fear of selling?
I was so intrigued it set me on a path of discovery and I’ve spent the last few years studying why we have this irrational fear!
I call it irrational because let’s face it, when we break it down we’re having a conversation!
Does your heart race as you pick up the phone to dial your best friend? Does your mind go blank and you wonder what on earth you’re going to talk about?
Do you sweat, want to run for the toilet, do you feel a pit in the bottom of your stomach?
I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say no!
No to all of those unhelpful emotions and thoughts I just mentioned!
So why is it then, when we do the same activity we have such a different emotional reaction?
Is it because the person on the other end is unknown?
I doubt it, we’ve all made calls to people we don’t know to sort out energy bills, fix our Sky account when it goes down.
We’ve all spoken to people we don’t know before and we didn’t have the same reaction!
So what’s going on?
Why as soon as you tell yourself you’re about to make a sales call does your heart start pounding?
It’s the story we tell ourselves!
It’s the image we create in our head
We’ve already visualized how it’s going to go before we’ve even started the call!
How many times do you imagine that call going well?
Never I’m guessing!
Because this is how humans are wired!
It’s a survival strategy coming into play!
We’re wired to look for danger, things that can hurt us both physically and emotionally!
Your automatic thinking response is to paint the worst case scenario as quickly as possible and in as much detail!
Because then you won’t take action!
Your mind believes it’s done it’s job and kept you away from harm!
Harm being making the call, falling flat on your face and feeling embarrassed!
But how does your mind know what image to create for you when it comes to sales?
It’s been put there by you!
You, your environment and the people around you!
How many times have you received a sales call where you felt you just couldn’t get rid of them!
Ever bought something after a hard sell and regretted afterwards?
How many times have you seen people on the TV and movies where the main character is highly successful, has the dream life, the car, the jet?
Yet to get all that they’ve had to sell their grandma, trample over people and con them out of their money!
The papers are full of stories of unscrupulous people conning old ladies out of their life savings!
We’ve been brought up believing that sales people, are mostly men in blue suits, who carry a brief case and are out to get you to buy stuff, regardless of If you want it or not!
Other peoples stories, experiences, all retold to you add to the beliefs you store in your mind about what selling is!
Nobody wants to feel stupid, to be duped out of their money, so we subconscious train ourselves to stay clear of anyone who’s selling!
So when you’re faced with an opportunity to sell, you mind uses all of this stored information to asses the threat level!
Now, it’s important to remember, most of what we hear goes into our mind as fact. We don’t often stop to question if that persons account of what happened was accurate or was it a little biased?
We don’t stop and say, ok, great movie, but in real life there’s so many people out there selling with right way, with ethics and integrity!
So your mind is littered with unhelpful beliefs about what selling is!
We don’t want to be the pushy sales person that we’ve spent a lifetime avoiding!
There’s no wonder you mind goes into overdrive when you think about making a sales call if your mind thinks you’re gonna have to ride rough shod over a load of people!
What we think significantly impacts the action we take!
This is one of the most important lessons I teach my clients!
What you think about, where you focus your thoughts, what information you allow into your mind without questioning it, significantly influences your next move!
That’s because our emotions come as a result of our thoughts!
What we think about impacts how we feel!
Don’t believe me, try this!
Think about a really happy time, transport yourself back to that exact moment!
Remember the sounds, the people, how you felt, the smells…
Your mood just lifted a few notches didn’t it!
Now do the opposite, think about something sad, devastating!
You’re mood took a dip right?
That’s because we can’t be in 2 emotional states at anyone time and what we think about impacts the emotions we experience!
When you think about making a sales call and all you imagine is the person saying no, making a fool of yourself,, not knowing what to say, them slamming the phone down on you…
How does that make you feel?
Like you wanna hide or you want go into battle?
We’re wired for comfort so I know without asking the answer will be to run and hide!
What you think about and what’s stored in you memory impacts how you feel.
How you feel generates emotions and those emotions dictate your actions!
So what are you supposed to do?
How can you fall in love with selling and become so confident at it that you never worry about it again?
Easy, you change the story you tell yourself!
I say easy, it’s gonna take practice! This is a skill in itself, but it’s far from impossible and it’s going to change the amount of sales you make forever!
To be good at sales your job is to remove those unhelpful beliefs about selling and replace them with new ones!
Upskilling yourseld with new, up-to-date sales skills and knowledge is going to help. Because it’s going to make you realise that selling isn’t sleazy!
It isn’t a rerun of an 80s movie classic and you’re not forcing anyone buy!
Making people buy regardless if they need it is manipulation and bullying, not sales!
Don’t confuse the two!
Sales is being of service, it’s helping your prospect to identify a solution that’s going to help them achieve their goals!
I’m fact, effective selling requires little selling at all!
Having the right process, knowing how to ask the right questions in the right way, clients will sell themselves on the idea of working with you or buying from you!
That’s how easy selling can be!
So upskill your sales skills as soon as you can!
Then, next time you’re about to make a sales call, before you pick up the phone take a moment and imagine your call going well!
Imagine a smooth conversation, that ends with both sides happy. Imagine creating an awesome relationship with the person, picture them smiling.
Focus on how you will feel, play out the scenario when your prospect says no, how will you react? How will you feel? How will you stay motivated rather taking the rut no as a direct hit on your self esteem?
Focus on the positives!
The more you do this, the more confident you will feel about making sales calls and visits!
Now, don’t confuse this advice with everyone saying yes!
This is not a strategy that will make all your calls end in a sale!
The reality is, not everyone needs or wants what you’re selling, that’s just life!
Some people say no to what you’re selling for good reason! Remember you’re a sales person not a bully or master manipulator!
This is a strategy, that if adopted and practiced will make you feel so confident about sales calls and meetings that you won’t even think twice about doing them!
They’ll feel like second nature and you’ll feel just as calm as if you were making a call to your best friend!
And as we know, how you feel dictates your actions!
If you’re feeling confident and carefree about making a sales call, you’ll make more of them!
You’ll sound natural, not salesy, your confidence will be felt by your prospects.
That confidence will reassure them that you can indeed help them to meet their goals!
When all of that happens, you’ll make more sales!
And more sales mean you’re positively impacting the lives of your clients and that can only ever be a good thing!
How do you think about sales and how’s it impacting your success!
Hey, I’m Helen and I help business owners eliminate their fear of sales, raise their prices and close more sales. If you want to make more sales in your business, then make sure you follow me on Instagram for daily tips. https://bit.ly/thisishelenwalker
