Why mindset matters in sales: We know, today more than ever, that the mind is an incredible but fragile thing. Over the past months, even the most positive people have had moments when their motivation has waned or they’ve struggled to find purpose. On such days, it can be especially hard for a cold caller to pick up the phone to make calls, yet cold call we must!
An outsource company can’t have bad days or even bad hours, since everything has to be meticulously measured and reported. So what to do?
At Blue Donkey, one of the first training objectives we set, is understanding the inextricable link between the mind and body. Inevitably, how we think and feel will affect our outcomes. As an outsource company, we are duty bound firstly to understand what’s going on in the hearts and minds of our people, and secondly, to create methods for rearranging it, so it becomes conducive to success.
Getting into the right mindset
It’s widely accepted in psychology that the beliefs we hold strongly influence our thoughts, and our thoughts direct our behaviours, or performance. In other words, we think and behave in a way that is consistent with our beliefs. So on days where we struggle to get our headspace right, we might be thinking ‘I can’t do this’. It’s what you might call a limiting belief. The belief itself is actually stopping you from doing what you want or need to do.
NLP is a fascinating science with a huge toolbox of methods that help people capture and turn around their limiting beliefs. One such technique is to make a list of the limiting beliefs, and, one by one, make a list of the evidence for the limiting belief, and then against the limiting belief. For example – I’m bad at making calls, someone hung up me last week, versus; I won some of the company’s best orders last year, got a promotion, added 40% to my revenue by cold calling. Essentially you’re gathering the evidence to disprove the limiting belief.
You can learn more about overcoming limiting beliefs and NLP by visiting Jessica and Nick Reed-Robbins website. They are respected coaches, speakers, and experts in NLP and performance psychology, best known for helping people overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges in order to achieve the impossible.
Getting the right information into a call
The next step for using the mind and body link successfully is to gather up all the information you need to remind yourself what’s great about your business. Where does your company shine? What are you proud of? How does what you do make a difference? This is all information that you need to assemble in your mind, reflect on it, take pride in it, and live the specialness.
Before long you’ll feel the urge to pick up the phone and talk to people about it. Remember to visualise a person in your mind’s eye, sit straight, picture success – maybe the last time you achieved something you were proud of. Use all this positivity to create a call that showcases your business, and your talent. Then do it all again and again. Before long you’ll see and feel the energy and success you’re producing.
Getting the right information out of a call
You will know when the techniques above are working, you will feel it. You’ll find that instead of ruminating over how you feel and what you’ve done wrong, your thinking will switch to the positive. You’ll ask great questions, and inspire your prospects enough so make them answer your open questions expansively. What does the company do, what’s their differentiation factor, how can you support their goals, what can you do to make your buyer’s life easier, what problem will you solve, what opportunities can you help bring about?
If you sound like you have the right to ask questions and can make a difference to an organisation, you’ll get respect and people will want to talk to you. Add the answers carefully to your database. By doing so you’ll not only be in pole position to meet that customer’s needs, you’ll be adding to the asset value of your own business. A comprehensive database is a tangible asset, the more you put in, the better its worth.
In the words of Noel Coward – Work is much more fun than fun! You’ll feel like your work is meaningful, make customers that stay with you for life, and create something for your business that wasn’t there before you picked up the phone. And that’s the best fun ever!
