Positive mindsets are vital to sales success

Without a positive mindset, anyone charged with selling goods and services is doomed from the beginning. This not only includes small business owners, but also professional salespeople.

Most people working in sales have had training of some sort to teach them how to sell. They learn things like how to approach customers, what questions to ask them and how to close a sale. This is valuable and essential training, but it misses a vital aspect of success – the mindset of the seller.

One of the first things salespeople are taught is how to set sales targets. What they are not taught is how to change their thoughts, beliefs and expectations to be in line with what they want to achieve. Without the correct mindset, reaching our highest potential for success is unachievable.

Many business owners and sales professionals have a reluctance to make cold calls. The reason for this differs from person to person, but it’s commonly a fear of rejection. Most of us have been rejected in the past and when the person on the end of the phone turns us down it triggers all those old events, compounding the rejected feeling. That compounded effect of past rejections is so strong that we then expect the next person to reject us also.

One business owner I worked with hardly ever called her prospects. As a sole trader this was seriously affecting her business. In her case it wasn’t a fear of rejection, but a subconscious belief that she wasn’t good enough. When she was a child a family situation created this belief, which was buried in her subconscious mind.

The mere thought of making a call would trigger this, making her believe the prospect would find her lacking. She was generally a positive and motivated person, but the subconscious mind is far more powerful than the conscious mind and can stop us in our tracks. The change in her business practice after being cleared of this belief was immediate and profound, as she then expected prospects to find her worthy.

Many companies are now hiring experts who work with the mind of their sales team to effectively increase business performance. One exercise I often give to salespeople is to sit for a moment before making that call and imagine in their mind the way they want it to go. They visualise the prospect happily agreeing to a face-to-face meeting or buying the product directly. I then get them to imagine the feeling of pleasure and excitement when they get off the phone. Often our expectations create our reality, so we need to maximise our expectations.

It’s important to know what you want to achieve and to expect success. Unfortunately most people don’t have big enough expectations of themselves or what they can achieve. Working with a mind expert can remove those comfort zones and increase those expectations. As we change our minds, we change our lives.