Want to increase your revenue, sales or become a better salesperson?
Here is the one thing you control every single day that could transform you sell, forever.
Why is it that the individuals who are the most talented are often not the most successful? Why are others consistently over-achievers? Why do the best 20% of the salesforce often bring in 80% of the sales and revenue in an organisation? There are many pieces that make up this fun puzzle.
Today, we will focus on the one you can control entirely ⤵
How You Handle Adversity
It is February 1st, 2022, and honestly, I thought I would be in an entirely different space today than I am. The vision I had—the goals I set in January 2022—well, they have gone out the window. And get this. It’s not my goal-setting skills. It does come down to tiny oversight, aka failure, however. And guess what? I’m totally happy. Read to the end to find out why.
I decided to take a break over the summer Christmas and New Year period this year—something I don’t always do. And as I returned back to work, I was hit by the dreaded all-consuming global super-villain, Mr COVID. I still have a cough and am taking cold/flu tablets 2.5 weeks post-COVID.
Even with the hysteria on the media. Even with everything I’ve been told, seen, heard, experienced since 2020, did I have a contingency plan in place around contracting COVID—for both my business and personal goals—so I could outsource, delay or defer my commitments? Um, no, I didn’t. Do you?
Planning not to fail is a failure to plan in some instances.
Think about a broadway show. What do the lead characters always have? Understudies, because the show must go on with or without them.
Does this mean they walk around moody, grumpy, with a negative mindset expecting something terrible to happen each day? Of course not. They are the lead in the show; everyone wants to be them! You are the leading man, lady or person in your own life. You can bring optimism and plan/strategise for your ideal outcomes while simultaneously preparing for whatever might happen, and this does not have to be a bad thing. We know COVID is in the world. If you haven’t had it yet, planning for it and what you’ll do to replace yourself or move your timelines is super intelligent.
I did make a plan & prepped with the thought it was inevitable for catching COVID, by the way—read about it here. I failed to plan for my brain not working at capacity.
We are more afraid of failure than of ghosts
Fear of failure is often cited as the number one reason people don’t set goals or try new things, and a whopping 33% of the adult population could be suffering from this at any given moment (source: Linkagoal). While I suspect the accuracy of those stats is questionable, I mentioned them to make a point: Fear of failure is part of the human condition and experience, and you’re not alone if you don’t enjoy failing.
I loathe failing yet am committed to success — talk about making it complicated for my reticular activating system to achieve my goals. How about you?
To be successful, what do you need to do?
Try stuff. Take action.
And what are the options when we take action?
Success, or failure.
It is the nature of selling that even the best salesperson will fail more than we succeed — resistance, rejection, objections and sometimes even hostility or downright rude people often come with the territory. This can lead to fatigue, burnout, diminished self-worth, loss of self-confidence and in an organisation, things like high turnover, absenteeism and diminished productivity.
It is how you handle adversity, aka the hard stuff, that will transform your life.
You have the ability to control your focus and your mind right now. Here’s how ⤵
You can reframe failure by shifting your mindset and asking better questions like—
What if this failure wasn’t really a failure but
What if, instead, taking this action was an experiment?
What if, instead, it was exploration.
What if it was trying new things, with no expectations or a specific result.
What if we asked ourselves, how can I fail at this and prepare in advance for that stuff?
What if we got so curious and asked, from this result, what can I learn?
From this situation, what insights did I learn?
How can I use all of this to pivot my offer and give the customer what they actually want?
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all — in which case, you fail by default.” J K Rowling.
This is learned optimism in action, created from real-life experiences (thanks to my wonderful clients), by yours truly. When I got COVID and realised there was a lot of stuff I missed, did I get really dark on myself? Hmmm, maybe for a minute, if I’m honest. But what did I do immediately next? I asked what could I learn from this and how could I use this knowledge to ensure the same thing didn’t happen next time. For example, adding a decision tree in my strategies, where contingency plans are necessary, would be useful. The other thing I did was write about this stuff and share it with others to learn from my mistakes! How can that even be considered an actual failure with so much goodness having come from it, right?
There is no such thing as failure. There is only feedback.
That is what I fundamentally believe.
Your entire life is an opportunity to learn, design, create and grow — as long as you adopt and practise this mindset.
Yup, it takes consistent practice and is a mindset — or way of seeing the world.
Back to sales & revenue. Do you feel rejected when the customer says no to you?
What if you got out of your own way and own head and realised this isn’t about you. It is about them. Their needs. Their wants. Their desire. And if you want their money, listen to them, and deliver what they want, when they want it. Sometimes you have everything they need; it’s just the wrong time, so be sure to follow up and keep in touch.
Most times, it probably isn’t about you, unless you perhaps have a bad attitude or don’t keep promises or have a questionable character or mismatch with the client in values, ethics, beliefs, etc. I’m assuming you’re awesome, in this instance.
Ask yourself what could I learn from the client saying no?
What does the customer want? Really want?
What are they telling me? How about with their body language and non-verbal cues?
Can I do something to remove barriers and objections—to be of service, not pressure sell?
Your sales superpowers are empathy, innovation, navigation, deep insight, calm, clear-headed, laser customer-focused, consistent action. Put yourself in the customers' position, always.
Applying Learned Optimism is proven to increased sales performance and productivity.
Want to learn more? You have two options—
Option 1: Subscribe to my medium blog and DM me, and I’ll add you to my email list. Once a week, you’ll get a single email focused on generating more sales/revenue. Each month of 2022 is a single theme.
February is focused on building your revenue-focused mindset. As salespeople, we need resilience, empathy and the tenacity to keep at it! It starts in our mind-gym. Think of Feb as doing your mental reps.
I’ll send you ten questions to get curious and start you on your learned optimism journey in return for your email subscription. I’ll never share your data with anyone, ever.
Option 2: Want to do more than upgrade your mindset — craft your own bespoke 1:1 customised revenue gameplan with me?
Enquire here, and let’s get strategic, inventive, curious and playful about hitting those numbers and blowing your clients away with so much value!
Interesting resources which could help you —
Why you should define your fears instead of your goals
Coping With COVID-19: The Benefits of Anticipating Future Positive Events and Maintaining Optimism
5 Things I wish I had prepared before contracting COVID-19 in Victoria, Australia
As always, any feedback is always welcome and feel free to connect with me on the gram or LinkedIn.
