Get into a Selling Mindset with Confidence Selling

I wasn’t always a sales trainer. Sales training is something that evolved from my work at the University of Southern Califo
ia and the Califo
ia Institute of Technology. I found that teaching negotiation and problem-solving skills was like teaching someone to sell themselves and their ideas. Lots like it.

So, when I developed the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs chapters in Southern Califo
ia back in 1998, I broadened my thinking about empowerment to sales and selling for entrepreneurs. Eventually Confidence Selling was born. Confidence Selling training is one of a number of services my company provides but all the offerings are grounded in teaching concrete skills and strategies to anyone interested in improving their business performance.

That said, I find that there are a few matters of skill and strategy that most tend to ignore. Read on to see if you are among the best and the brightest that shy away from these business development suggestions.

One suggestion is to create multiple streams of income. Everyone is focusing on a single enterprise or product instead of creating additional products or services. In my consulting I am a master at pulling out the possibilities for additional products, but most of us have a hard time broadening our thinking to grasp the realities of being an entrepreneur.

Another suggestion that is difficult to absorb is to plan your day, week, month, and year. Start with your vacation and holiday schedule. If you build in your days off, and commit to those days off, you stop wasting your workday. You know how that happens, things get in the way and before you know it that all-important project is still sitting on your desk and now you have to finish it over the weekend or during a vacation. Most of my clients find it takes them 50% less time to complete a project once they implement the time-management system I have created. Just being able to take a weekend off and go on vacation without your laptop does so much for your energy and vitality. But it’s a big shift in consciousness and is dependent upon your ability to take the time system to heart.

The third suggestion is to structure the day and week so that you have dedicated time to your tasks of sales calling, marketing, networking, and working with clients. I find my clients spend a lot of time marketing-that is creating logos, business cards, e-newsletters, brochures, etc. in the hopes that someone will see their materials and call them and hire them. Well, maybe someday for some people. But, for most of the world-beginners and seasoned professionals, you have to make the sales before you can expect the income.

Skipping the selling is like skipping breakfast, and we all know where that gets us - looking like sumo wrestlers. Did you know that sumo wrestlers eat most of their calories in the evening? Yep, that’s how they bulk up. But, if you don’t want to bulk up (or in this case waste your days and then spend your nights and weekend trying to catch up and conclude you have to work a 90-hour week), then you spread the calories across the day. Just like you spread the work and the types of work you do to grow your business across your day, and week, and month, and year.

This is not about setting lofty goals; this is about concrete structures and strategies that come out of your lofty goals. And speaking of strategies, the last point most entrepreneurs find it hard to remember is develop and practice their confidence selling mindset.

This is the mindset that releases you from the outcome of the deal so that you can focus on creating the relationship. Everyone thinks that is easy because it is so logical and obvious. I see the slap on the forehead and hear the “duh”. But when they try to do it alone, they fail miserably. That’s why I created worksheets to use by your telephone so that you can remind yourself and practice the confidence selling mindset during your structured selling hours.

So if you are ready to schedule your vacation, get control of your time, translate your goals into action steps and master the confidence selling mindset, then I have a deal for you. See the SWEETHEART OF A DEAL promotion to learn how you can obtain the keys to selling confidence and the keys to starting a business, plus an hour of coaching with either me or my colleague, Judy Irving, for a fraction of the usual cost.

Until next time -feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.