Lets get right into this, no need for an intro paragraph, the title of the article speaks for itself.
1.) Sales Always Has Been, And Always Will Be A Numbers Game.
You can try to look the other way on this as many times, and for as long as you can still pay your bills, but at the end of the month there’s no getting around this reality.
You need to be talking to massive quantities of prospects. This may sound unpleasant, it may sound like a lot of work, but here’s the truth: What will be more unpleasant, is the stress that comes with running out of people to talk to. Nothing in sales is more stressful than not having people to call.
Not having appointments to run, not having deals in your pipeline. That’s real stress, because without prospects, and without a pipeline, you’ve got NOTHING.
The rent is still going to be due next month, so are all the bills, and you’ll still need to eat. Nothing helps me sleep better at night than knowing my pipeline is filled to the brim.
2.) Don’t Get Emotional Over The Loss Of A Sale.
I’ve lost some huge deals in my career as a salesman, one’s that really stung bad. It happens to the best of the best. Anyone that says otherwise is lying to you. The truth is, even the best salesman lose out on deals from time to time. Getting emotional over it can cause a downward spiral.
It’s OK to feel bummed out over it for a temporary period of time. But is has to be very temporarily. Otherwise it could create negative momentum and turn your tide in the direction you don’t want it to go. You can’t dwell on losses. If you find yourself struggling with losses, its because you aren’t doing #1 right above (you aren’t keeping your prospect numbers high enough).
When your running 15 to 20 appointments a week like me, you never have to worry when one or two of them shits the bed.
3.) Jinxing Yourself Is A Very Real Thing, So Keep Your Mouth SHUT!
Don’t even ask why, or how this makes any sense, because I have no idea. All I know is that its happened to me 2 times now on the 2 biggest deals I was ever going to get paid on. I got myself all worked up and excited about the appointments, told other people about how huge the deals the deals were, and even how much I would get paid on them, and guess what happened?
NOTHING. The prospect’s got ”buyers remorse” because I failed to realize (the 1st time), and then I forgot (years later, the 2nd time), that jinxing yourself is very real thing. KEEP….YOUR MOUTH…..SHUT!!
If you run an appointment, and you land a huge deal, don’t say a single fucking word about it to ANYONE. Trust me on this guys, I know it logically doesn’t make sense. As men, its hard for us realize how logically just talking about how great of an appointment you had could ruin the sale, but it can and it does.
Even if they seemed to be salivating at the idea of buying your product. Especially if they were salivating at the idea of buying it.
Remember: the sell is emotional, and is then backed by logic. You get them on an emotional high when they buy, but before you leave you need to get them back down and communicate on a logical level so it sinks in. This is usually done by talking about things other than the sale itself. This is when the relationship begins.
4.) Be Tenacious And Audacious.
You’ll never succeed in sales if you lack tenacity, drive, self-motivation, and audaciousness. Let me give you an example:
6-7 years ago I was in sales for an insurance company. I did a lot of telemarketing for the agent I worked for.
I got be exceptionally good at it, after doing it almost every day for 4 years. Some people would be extremely rude to me, or would just simply hang up on me. Yet some people, more people actually (believe it or not), were actually very nice and would decline my offer in a very polite, thankful way.
Despite this, I would go into every call I made prepared for the absolute worst response.
I would either be right, or I would be pleasantly surprised.
I remember asking myself after 1 year, 2 years, 4 years: ‘’Why is this still so difficult?’’
Why do I sometimes still get slightly nervous when someone answers the phone? It dawned on me that, unless I reached a point where I’d been telemarketing for, say 6-7 years, that fear was something that wasn’t going away.
I had to learn how to feel the fear, and do it anyway.
I had to learn to embrace rejection, embrace chaos, and embrace the numbers game. I had to learn how to live in a constant state of mild fear and of being uncomfortable. More than anything, I had to to learn to be fucking tenacious.
I had to lose the ability to feel compassion for people (at least on a certain level). I knew what I needed, I knew what I had to do, and I fucking did it every day with no apologies, no remorse, and no regrets.
To Be Continued,
-Matt Mitchell
