How to Assume Your Way to Increased Sales

I was casually listening to a self-help CD the other day, drifting in and out of paying attention as only an ADD-riddled sales rep can, when I thought I heard something fascinating: “Sales are contingent on the attitude of the salesman, not the prospect.”

Wow. That’s a keeper. Stop→rewind→play: “Sales are contingent on the attitude of the salesman, not the prospect.”

So, is the author trying to suggest that we control our own destiny? Does he have the gall to think that a rep’s confidence plays a part in the outcome? I’m shocked! He must be one of those people who believe in positive mental attitudes.

Oh, wait, the name of the CD is “Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude” so I guess the answer to those questions is a resounding, “Yes!”

I do my coaching over the phone for several reasons. First, I like the idea of learn and apply, learn and apply when it comes to sales training. Second, I like to hear what the customer hears. As you can imagine, I deal with a wide variety of personalities from the Eeyore impersonators to the jacked-up, Herb Tarleck types and can attest to the assertion that attitude is everything. It gets to the point that I can tell immediately what kind of day my clients are having in the first 10 seconds of conversation.

The problem, as I pointed out in my June Printing Impressions column, is we tend to buy into assumptions as soon as they come to mind. In this case, we give away far too much power in the process of preparing for a sales call, psyching ourselves out and believing we will fail even before we pick up the phone.

OK, so let’s turn that around and make a different assumption: What if, from this point forward, we made the assumption that it is our attitude that affects the sale and we approach each day and each selling opportunity with the belief that WE WILL WIN? It’s simple, dorky and free. Why WOULDN’T you give it a try?