Contrary to the popular saying, success is not about working smart. It is about working hard on the right stuff. It is your self-limiting beliefs and other hidden weaknesses that make selling so tough. If you have too much need for approval, for example, then you will find asking hard questions to be exhausting and you will avoid doing it. What you consider to be a hard question will depend on what other self-limiting beliefs you have. For example, if you are uncomfortable talking about money and you also have need for approval then the very thought of asking for the client’s budget is stressful. If your sales manager is demanding that you come back from the sales call with the budget, then you will dread going to the meeting. You will waste emotional energy and you will lower your chances of getting the information you need. Eliminating your excessive need for approval is not easy. It requires a commitment to the task, and it requires emotional energy expended over a significant period of time to risk rejection, get rejected (or not) and then deal with the emotional consequences. However, if you put the emotional energy into overcoming this issue then selling, suddenly (and I do mean suddenly) asking tough questions becomes much easier. In fact, they will require no emotional energy at all. You will not dread conversations. You will not obsess about what prospects might or might say and you will be more relaxed on the sales call. This will free up energy to do other things and your success and satisfaction with your sales career will skyrocket. The tricky part is to identify the hidden weakness causing you the stress. The hard part is working through the “trauma” of doing what must be done to overcome the weakness. But, putting in the emotional work to discover and overcome the self-limiting beliefs is the smart thing to do.
If you have a sales question you would like to discuss follow the link to schedule a call:
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