TSE Fear can be common for salespeople regardless of where you are in your career. The fear of rejection can paralyze us and impact our performance. In the current climate of a pandemic, one fear that salespeople are dealing with is that customers won’t be interested in what we have to offer. In this episode, we’ll talk about how to overcome the fear of selling during challenging times.
Nina Cooke works with entrepreneurs, their coaches, consultants, and sales specialists. Her task is to help them overcome their fear in order to get them to move toward sales conversations. Nina helps salespeople overcome their negative thoughts and the lies people tell themselves. Nina’s goal is for her clients to see how powerful and magnificent they can be as they run their business.
The origin of fear
The origin of a lot of our fears occurs in childhood. We were all born with a blank slate and then picked up the programming of other people over time. From a very young age, we start to take in information and make assessments about our world and the people in our life as we observe activities and conversations around us. These observations can heavily influence how we view our place in this world. If we see others are fearful, for example, we tend to take on that fear and it can take a grip into adulthood.
Another example of a child making assumptions about their environment may come from their parent not playing with them, even though they promised. As this child starts to see this as a trend, they begin to wonder why the play isn’t happening. Is it because they aren’t important enough? “I’m not important enough” is now a limiting belief they take into adulthood. As their belief takes hold, they begin to collect evidence to prove it’s true:
Someone wasn’t listening to you while you were talking because you weren’t important.
You spoke up in a group and no one listened because you weren’t important.
Parents didn’t take notice of you but focused on your siblings because you weren’t important.
We build meaning around events and then live our lives as if these beliefs were fact. These limiting beliefs become a crippling way of thinking, especially if it keeps you from seeing your full potential.
Change of mindset
We’ve got to be careful about settling because of a limited mindset. Changing your mindset is necessary to redirect your path. These limitations are keeping you from reaching out to people during a pandemic:
-“People aren’t interested in what I have to offer.”
-”They don’t have the budget for my products.”
These are concerns but they’re not necessarily the reality. How do we know this? Because other salespeople are thriving. If they can do it, you can too.
One of Nina’s clients set a goal to have six new clients/customers in the month of April and while she wasn’t able to lock in all six, she was able to get five new customers! If we continue to reason our way out of growing our business, we won’t have a business to return to when this pandemic is over. We have to carry on taking action by knowing our value and realizing that there are people who need what we have to offer. There are people who are willing to invest in solutions to their problems.
Breaking away from the negative influences
It’s very easy to be influenced by the negativity around us but know that you have a choice in how you think. You can’t stop someone else’s negative outlook, but there is always a choice to buy or not. Reset your habits of thinking toward hope and optimism. Accept only the mindset that will prompt you to take action.
Other people around you may have a bleak outlook about conducting business but don’t take that on. People are still purchasing! The more people you contact, the more people will know you are ready to do business but you have to call for them to know. If you can keep a resilient mindset, then you’ll be okay, even when people say no, because it’s one step closer to yes.
Perseverance through challenging times is going to take effort, but it will put you ahead of the people who don’t even try. Know your value, and stay active. It isn’t personal when someone says no. Their “no” means they are not ready to purchase, but they are not rejecting you. Just allow your customer to guide the sales cycle and be available when they’re ready to go.
Transforming the mind
Before you change your mind, it’s first important to know your goals. Let’s say for example that your goal is to generate 30,000 a month as your income. What thinking is stopping you from achieving that?
Nina helps you figure out your limiting beliefs. After rating your limiting beliefs from a 1-10 scale, she takes you through a simple process to remove that block from your subconscious once and for all. The biggest limiting belief Nina’s clients are currently experiencing is, “It’s inappropriate to make offers right now because people can’t afford me.” This belief is keeping you from people who need your product or service. Once you remove the limitations, you’ll find the people who are ready to invest and start focusing on how you can add value.
Nina has another client who offers retreats and one of the activities is taking people dolphin watching. Due to the social distancing, she’s switched gears and now offers virtual retreats. At last count, 30 people signed up for her virtual retreats. This is now going to be part of her sales funnel moving forward. She pivoted and created a new market!
Take on new opportunities
There are opportunities available right now for the people who are ready to take action. The expanding mindset will help you see the opportunities and take back control. When you are in control you’re able to make things happen.
Oftentimes, we limit ourselves and can’t see the big picture. Our vision shrinks until it no longer serves our goals. You need to become aware of these thoughts in order to remove them from your system. Salespeople have unlimited untapped potential and the only thing that can stop them from digging deep and being the best they can is themselves. You are the person getting in the way of your own success. You can have the best coach, the best strategy, the best prospect list, and the best scripts but all of these only work if you stop sabotaging yourself.
The best salespeople don’t have special powers. What sets them apart is they change their mindset and take action. Every time they face resistance, they overcome and win. They do this again and again for every block they experience.
Look at the big picture
As a sales rep, always look at the big picture. Do not focus on your thoughts and the negative words that threaten where you want to be. Nina and her team are there to help you get clarity and replace negative thoughts with the positive beliefs that will prompt you to take action.
“How To Overcome Your Fear of Selling During Challenging Times” episode resources
Stay connected with Nina Cooke through her LinkedIn account and her website.
If you are interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald directly. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns.
This episode is brought to you in part by Crmble, the easy-peasy CRM for Trello that helps you manage your contacts and leads without investing in complicated solutions, sync all your data, manage custom fields, and get powerful reporting on your sales. Try Crmble for free now at www.crmble.com/tse.
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Audio provided byFree SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.
Donald is the host of the popular sales podcast,"The Sales Evangelist". He is the founder of The Sales Evangelist Consulting Firm where he helps small companies develop killer sales process to scale their business and increase growth.
Donald is also an award-winning speaker, sales trainer, and coach. He's a big fan of traveling, South Florida staycations and high-quality family time. Donald has a belief that “anyone” can sell if they have the desire and receives the proper training.
