King on Staying With It

 

“If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means, keep moving.

– Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968)
American civil rights leader
Nobel Peace Prize winner

Sometimes, if we don’t have success after repeated attempts to do something, we can lose confidence and eventually give up trying. It’s called “learned helplessness” (we learn to be helpless).

Sales check: Any areas where you and your team have stopped trying (or try, but with little commitment) because prior repeated failures and/ or a perceived inability to succeed has trained you not to try? In prospecting and customer contact efforts? In motivating and improving team attitudes and cooperation? With customer care improvement initiatives?

If so, what can you start doing today to minimize any “learned helplessness” that may have set in?

Another thought on embracing the objections of your prospects and customers…

Right now and over the next several weeks, position in your mind the regular objections you hear as not only an inevitable step to bringing in more business, but also a positive step. Objections confirm a level of need or desire for your product or service and help you better determine the next steps you should take in a sales process. For the prospect, it’s your responses to the objections that help validate or support their buying decision.

This is the reason the responses to your top objections (those you and your team hear most often) must be planned and prepared with a professional’s level of attention.

The keys… Appreciate. Validate. Be direct.

Einstein on Gomos and D-grunts

 

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition
from mediocre minds.”

–Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
Swiss physicist

ego: noun: 1. the self 2. an inflated sense of self-significance

Imagine a world without ego. No…

  • Toes to step on
  • Feelings to hurt
  • Fair shares to grab
  • Territory to defend
  • Fault to allocate
  • Back to watch
  • Last words to get
  • Ideas to hold back
  • Embarrassment to bear
  • Battles to win
  • Knowledge to prove
  • Entitlement to have
  • Encouragement to withhold
  • Credit to seek
  • Grudges to hold
  • Jealousy to feel
  • Revenge to take
  • Hidden meanings to construe

Speak no ego. Be no ego.

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Churchill on Being Relentless

Never give in, never give in,
never, never, never, never.”

–Sir Winston Churchill (1874–1965)
British prime minister during WWII

Email this quote

Sales resilience…

A couple bright sides to remember…

  1. Those gatekeepers keeping you from your prospects… You’ll love them once you’re on the other side and your competition comes calling. (Just be sure you’re continually qualifying your prospects – investing your effort only with the best possibilities… Get JustSell’s quick guide on qualifying).
  2. That deal you lose to a low-cost provider… Sometimes it can be more valuable in the long run. When the lowest priced product or service doesn’t meet the expectations of a customer, a deeper appreciation of the price/ value relationship is developed. This can create a new sales opportunity from what was initially lost – an opportunity for a much stronger business relationship than otherwise may have existed. (Make sure you keep your cool & kindness so you’re called if it happens.)

Here are 4 points to bouncing back.

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When you need a well-earned break (especially soccer fans), enjoy this example of perseverance and focus from the soccer world (1-minute). Amazing. A great one to pass along to your kids.