State of mind Vs Sales Ability

80 percent of success in selling is determined by attitude. Only 20 percent of it is determined by ability.A positive mindset, or a constructive and improvement-oriented way of looking at oneself and their work, goes hand in hand with sales success in every field and in every market. The cultivation of this attitude of optimism and enthusiasm is the springboard to greatness as a salesperson, no matter what is going on around you.The 20 percent of sales effectiveness that comes from product/service knowledge and professional selling skills are also important. It is only when a salesperson is thoroughly knowledgeable about what they are selling and skilful in their ability to present it effectively that they develop the confidence upon which a positive mental attitude is based.

How we think and where we direct our focus determines the quality of our lives. If we improve the quality of our thinking and learn to control our focus, in any area, we improve the quality of our lives in that area. By using your mind, your ability to think, you become someone in control of situations rather than a victim. You move from being powerless and aimless to being powerful and purposeful. You determine everything that happens to you by the way you think about it, in advance. Ultimately, you become what you think about.

Top salespeople have an abundance mindset – they think 'if someone doesn’t buy from me, there are plenty others that will'. They also are calm, because they are focused on a settled purpose, which moves them emotionally to overcome difficulties that would frustrate and defeat most people. They are therefore confident, positive and have high, but realistic expectations. They feel good about themselves and they have absolute faith that everything they are doing is contributing toward their inevitable success. They may not necessarily enjoy doing the difficult things like: prospecting/cold-calling, asking difficult closing questions, risking persistent failure over and over again. However, what sets them apart from the 80 percent who struggle is that they force themselves to do these things because they are prerequisites to being successful and their settled purpose is far more important to them than avoiding short –term failure, setback and discomfort.When this attitude is truly internalised, what will happen is that you will start to feel relaxed and happy about your career and for the potential for great things to happen. You’ll KNOW you are truly good at selling, not ‘like to think you’re good’ and your clients will notice this too. You must have a settled purpose, a goal that moves you EMOTIONALLY that you are willing to do and experience the uncomfortable in order to succeed. Without this you will not summon up the will to persist when the inevitable difficulties occur.

You must also begin to take complete control of your focus and direct it in positive, constructive ways, by becoming solution-oriented with every difficulty and setback. When you find your will sapping away after yet another ‘no’, you MUST ask yourself (do these out loud if possible) a question, and a solution-focused one such as: “What can and will be done better?” “What do I need/am I going to do to change things?” Notice how the wordings of the questions are in either PRESENT or FUTURE TENSE. This is crucial. A good question, focuses on the current and future situation, NOT retrospectively e.g. “why did he/she say no?” “Why was he rude to me?” etc. Look to learn from every call and see them as opportunities to improve and get progressively better. Hold this mindset, the focus and hunger before you. And that’s when the big commissions might just start coming in!