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50 years of success - Established 1974

50 Years of Success
Established in 1974

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Adopting a Positive Mental Attitude to Selling

 

Successful selling, much like everything else in this life, is highly dependent on your mental attitude. If you start thinking it’s going to fail – then you can be pretty sure that it will. Henry Ford famously said, ‘Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you are right’. And, it’s true that those who have a positive mental attitude usually do significantly better than those that don’t, in all areas of their life. This includes living longer and being healthier and happier too! So it’s definitely worthwhile learning how to create a positive mental attitude (PMA).

Tips for Developing a Positive Mental Attitude

Your selling strategy – sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. And to be a successful salesman you have to understand this and work through it. If you start to think ‘I can’t sell this’, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy – that negative feeling will be picked up by any sales prospect who walks through the door and is likely to put them off. I am sure you know yourself how much more willing you are to buy a product from someone who not only appears to know what they are talking about but, more importantly, someone who actually seems like they believe their product offer will you some benefit. (See the How to Use Features and Benefits to Sell Successfully for more on these). So what can you do to keep a positive mental attitude?

  1. Use Positive Self-Talk – first we need to clarify what we mean by self-talk. This is the chatter that constantly runs through your head as you go about your daily business. When this chatter becomes more negative than positive you are heading for failure. So, when you catch yourself thinking ‘I can’t do this’, or ‘I’m never going to do that’, stop and change to thinking ‘I can do this’ and ‘I’m going to do that’.

    From the minute you get up in the morning, think about what you are going to achieve that day and push aside all thoughts of problems that may occur. If you need to make 20 sales, imagine yourself at the end of the day with 20 sales on the board.

  2. Ask yourself ‘What is good about this situation?’– this is a very important question, especially when things don’t go as you planned, as it allows you to still see the positives in what may seem like a negative situation. For example, if you lose a sale, ask yourself what you have learnt from the process. Did you discover anything that can make the next sale more successful? Is there anything you can change in time for the next sale? If you do this, you’ll see every experience, whether you make a sale or not, as a success as you’ll have learnt valuable lessons.

  3. Reduce Your Levels of Stress – high levels of stress can increase feelings of negativity. So, you should do all you can to reduce your levels of stress. This could be by making sure you are thoroughly prepared for your day of selling. For example, ensure you know your product or service inside out, then when the sales prospect asks you questions about it, you can answer quickly and confidently. There’s nothing more off-putting than someone trying to sell you something that they clearly know nothing about. (See here for more on How to Improve Your Sales Technique).

    You could also keep yourself calm by learning some simple stress-reducing techniques, such as stretching or meditating for example. However, there are simply too many to mention here, so why not pop over to the Business Training College Blog where you’ll find several blogs posts on identifying and combating stress.

  4. Understand that you are in control of your emotions – many people think that their emotions are determined by external factors. This is not true. Whilst you may not be able to control everything that happens in the day, you can control how you feel about them. So, when something happens that annoys you, don’t let it. You may find it hard to begin with, but as you get used to this way of thinking, it’ll get easier and easier.

 

Now you know that feeling positive is simply a choice, you can work on developing and maintaining a PMA every day. Try it and see how your sales improve.

For more on the benefits of PMA for selling, why not read the inspirational story of W. Clement Stone.

If you’d like more information about selling, why not request our Professional Sales Techniques Course prospectus.

Dahlia Ewers“I would recommend the Business English course to anyone who wants to improve their English, learn more about the business world or to widen their management techniques"

Dahlia Ewers, USA

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European Association for Distance Learning Institute of Training and Occupational Learning

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