Sales people are notorious for psyching themselves out – out of a lead, out of the sale and even out of a job. To succeed in sales – as in any job – attitude matters. My years of experience working with corporations and sales professionals have taught me a couple of key points:
1. Sales professionals need a clear, specific, target-based process.
2. Sales professionals can be trained and developed, but they must also possess basic sales instincts and an attitude to succeed.
3. Sales professionals cannot succeed unless they understand what skills and attributes they will need for success. The best sales process will not be successful unless the sales professional learns the skills and changes required to overcome the odds and the challenges placed before them.
A winning attitude has to come from your heart and mind and your spirit. A sales trainer cannot teach you to have a good attitude about your job, but a good sales coach can assist you in finding your passion and harnessing your skills to achieve sales success.
Your success in sales depends on 100% dedication to the job. That doesn’t mean 100% of your time – all day, every day – is focused on your job. But when you are working, you must be 100% focused on your clients, your prospects, your product and what it will take to achieve your sales goals. You must find a way to accept adversities and setbacks as a part of the sales process and then manifest that level of dedication to help you move forward with your objectives. There are specific action items you must take on in order to stay focused, and they require around personal and professional development:
- Sales skills can be learned. Are you investing the time to learn how to be a better salesperson, how to have a better attitude, how to take responsibility for your rises as well as your falls, how to have more passion?
- Are you prepared to “learn how to learn”? Learning how to learn literally means going back to the basics and clearing your mind to make room for new ideas and concepts. Initially, this involves training and conditioning the mind to release any blockages that are hindering your learning process, and hindering your ability to master new sales techniques. These blockages could be preconceived notions, a pessimistic outlook about the information you are about to hear, fear of redundancy, complacency, or even boredom. In sales more often than not, your mind is your biggest adversary!
- Think and act like a winner. The University of Notre Dame football program is well known for its slogan Play Like A Champion Today. This means play with the attitude of a champion. For sales people, this translates to Sell Like A Champion: be a winner, talk like a winner and walk like a winner. A winner’s attitude of success is the result of being able to see things positively and being able to withstand a difficult scenario. If your attitude is bad, your prospects, clients and colleagues will know it.
I am a firm believer you must be Fit To Sell: your mind, body and attitude must have the proper care and conditioning to compete and succeed in a competitive sales environment. Sales skills can be learned: if your attitude is right and you’re willing to put in the work.
Is Your Attitude Fit To Sell?
about Anthony Caliendo:
As a corporate sales consultant, trainer and coach, I’m also an entrepreneur and sales professional with over 20 years of successful sales and sales management experience. My expertise in sales, marketing and business development spans from small business to international companies.
I’m the best-selling author of The Sales Assassin: Master Your Black Belt in Sales, winner of the 2015 USA Book News business book award for entrepreneurs and small business, winner of the 2016 Book Excellence Award for Sales and Marketing, and a 2016 finalist in The Indie Book Awards.
I provide personal sales coaching; and consult, speak and train about growing and motivating your sales team to businesses, corporations and conferences across the nation, as well as a guest contributor and sales expert for TV and radio, and professional organizations.