When we met last week, we talked about how sales can be difficult because you are guaranteed to face a lot of objections and rejection. And this can lead to a more negative mindset by questioning if people need what you sell, if your product is good enough to sell, or if you a cut out for sales. In today’s Monday Mindset, I actually want to focus on that third type of doubt, and that is doubting if you have what it takes to be a salesperson.
If you have ever felt that way or had doubts like this, I want to tell you to put negative thoughts like those out of your mind because you have what it takes to be successful, and I will explain why.
Three Requirements
Although there are three requirements for this confidence to be given to someone.
- Do you have the ability to learn?
- Do you have the ability to communicate?
- Do you have the drive to succeed?
Ability to Learn
You might not be performing well. You might not know what to do. You might not know what to say. And this might be causing stress, a lack of confidence, and a feeling like you don’t have what it takes.
But if any of that is going on, all of that can be fixed by learning and developing your sales skills and knowledge. The great thing about selling is that it is a skill, and with that, you can gain knowledge on what to do and not do, and that can have a direct impact on your ability to perform better.
With that, if you have the ability to learn, you have the ability to improve. If you have the ability to improve, you have a lot of what it takes to be a successful salesperson. If you do not have the ability to learn and develop, and you are not performing well, then it might be difficult for you to find your way as a salesperson.
Ability to Communicate
The second requirement of having the ability to communicate is a fairly low bar because we are just asking if you have the ability to communicate with other humans in the most basic way in terms of calling people you do not know, being able to establish and maintain conversations, etc.
We are not saying that you need to be an extrovert or born with some natural ability to sell something. All you need is a bare minimum ability to interact and communicate with other humans. You can even be somewhat introverted, but if you can interact and communicate in a professional way, you have what it takes.
Drive to Succeed
Do you have a medium to high level of drive to succeed? Do you want to win? Do you want to make money? Do you want career growth? Do you have ambition? Do you like the hunt and chase of selling?
If the answers to most of those questions is “yes,” you have what it takes. And I don’t think it is a stretch for someone working in a business and sales type of job to be able to easily check all of those boxes. But if you are questionable or lacking in in any of those, that might negatively impact your performance.
Putting All of That Together
As you can see, these three requirements are fairly easy to meet. And with that, if you are someone who enjoys the job of selling but you are just feeling lost, frustrated, and lacking confidence, it is most likely the case that you have what it takes to be successful.
What You Need to Do
If you agree with that and can see that you have what it takes to be successful, I can leave you with three very clear and practical things you can do to improve and get to the next level.
- Continue to learn and develop
- Organize your sales pitch
- Reflect back to improve moving forward
- Practice and role-play
Continue to learn and develop
Take time periodically to stop and increase your level of sales knowledge. This could be once a week, once a day, or once a month. Whatever the timing, take a step back and learn from others who have been doing what you are trying to do. There are plenty of videos, books, and sales training programs to dive into.
Organize your sales pitch
Take a little time to organize your sales pitch. You don’t necessarily need to create a sales script, but at a minimum, you should have a list of key questions to ask and responses ready for common objections. The list of questions will help you tremendously because you will always have something to fall back on during calls and conversations. And the really cool thing with our objection handling methodology, you can actually use your list of questions and responses to many of the most common sales objections.
Reflect back to improve moving forward
The great thing about sales scenarios is that they will continue to repeat themselves. Whatever happens on a call or meeting, you can count on it happening again. With that, you can reflect back on every call, meeting, or conversation and think about what went well and what you could have done better. By going through this mental exercise and routine, you will greatly increase the odds that you perform better the next time you find yourself in the same situation.
Practice and role-play
It can be difficult to know what best to say when talking with prospects. This is probably something someone who is doubting if they can be a good salesperson.
Organizing your sales pitch will help with that. But if you really want to get to the next level, you need to practice your pitch, asking questions, and responding to objections. And you can very easily do that by role-playing common sales situations like cold calling, meeting with prospects, and responding to objections.
