Selling has always been and will continue to be a tough and often ruthless business. It is one of the few professions where one will probably hear the word "no", more often than “yes”. "No!" is a self-esteem lowering word and can be readily interpreted as rejection by those who hear it often enough. It brings about self-doubt and can dredge up past experiences at home, as a child, in school and during adolescence leading to the proverbial downward spiral if things are not going well for you in sales.
We hear so much today about positivity and the need to take a benevolent view of the world. This is never as true when one is involved in selling. One must get up every morning, face the day and believe that it is going to be a fantastic one, not just in selling, but in every aspect of life!
You see everybody has a choice when one gets up in the morning. Benevolent people believe that the world is conspiring to do them good, that there is opportunity around every corner, that world is full of bounty, that there is enough for everybody to go around and responsibility lies within the person to make it.
Benevolent people never blame, they never complain, they don't groan or moan and simply get on with it! They are usually wonderful to be around, they see the good in everything, and if they fail, they accept it, dust themselves down and start all over again.
Let's talk about their unfortunate malevolent counterparts. How do they behave? Because they believe the world is out to 'get them', is conspiring to do them wrong, possessing feelings that around every corner lurks failure, disaster and disappointment, sadly, they are never disappointed. They get exactly what they expect, just like benevolent people except the opposite.
A multiplicity of books, articles, videos and training materials are available out there to get you to think, feel and act positively, and a whole industry has been created around positivity and creating that mental attitude that will put you in the top percentile of your profession, including selling, of course.
Do these tools work? Essentially, they give you much of the same message and if you take a commonsense approach to the material, the concepts, the ideas and methodologies and if they work for you, excellent! People are unique and different and are a heady cocktail of varying personalities and temperaments, different motivators, both obvious and hidden, and of course, hugely contrasting life experiences.
What will work for one person may not for the next, and it's a matter of trial and error identifying trainers, mentors, authors and material that resonate with your unique combination of personality, motivators and learning, i.e. your "how, why and what".
So, is positivity and taking a benevolent view of the world, a key ingredient in the selling process? This I am certain and have learned about selling; if one is positive, enthusiastic, competent, and committed to what one is selling, there is little to stop you from being an amazing success. Let's face it, taking the alternative approach doesn't bear thinking about now, does it?
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