Often in working with salespeople, I find one of their biggest challenges in performing effectively in the sales process comes down to being able to detach themselves emotionally from the selling situation. Instead of limiting their emotional involvement they tend to start to think too much during the sale. The thinking could include analyzing, creating, worrying, panicking, getting excited and strategizing on the fly–all activities that can sabotage a sale. This thinking is often caused by a lack of mental discipline.
Right about now you are asking yourself, "What is mental discipline?" It's a structure of behavior and attitude that helps a salesperson (and non-salespeople) execute in the 'moment'. (Saying the right thing to the right person at the right time.)
Behavior shapes thought. If a salesperson disciplines his behavior, then he will also discipline his mind.
And more importantly, it is a structure that reduces the sales process to a series of simple tasks. The salesperson's personality isn't at the center. The salesperson's talent isn't at the center. The task is at the center.
By putting the task at the center, we shine a light on the way the body and mind communicate with each other. It was once thought the mind existed above the body–remember the advice to "be a third party in the sales call'?–but that belief is disproved by the evidence. In fact, it's easier to change the mind by changing behavior.
And by putting selling task at the center, the salesperson quiets the self. They push their thoughts away from their own qualities–their expectations, nerve and ego–and allow the salesperson to lose themselves in the task.
What lesson can professional salespeople take from all this? First, the importance of following a sales process that can be broken down into a series of tasks to be completed. Examples would be: Setting the ground rules for all sales calls, asking great questions, getting commitments as to 'what happens next?' that help to advance the sale. Second, following this process repetitively (not robotically) will enable them to develop the mental discipline requred to quiet their mind and detach emotionally from the sale.
Often in working with salespeople, I find one of their biggest challenges in performing effectively in the sales process comes down to being able to detach themselves emotionally from the selling situation. Instead of limiting their emotional involvement they tend to start to think too much during the sale. The thinking could include analyzing, creating, worrying, panicking, getting excited and strategizing on the fly–all activities that can sabotage a sale. This thinking is often caused by a lack of mental discipline.
Right about now you are asking yourself, "What is mental discipline?" It's a structure of behavior and attitude that helps a salesperson (and non-salespeople) execute in the 'moment'. (Saying the right thing to the right person at the right time.)
Behavior shapes thought. If a salesperson disciplines his behavior, then he will also discipline his mind.
And more importantly, it is a structure that reduces the sales process to a series of simple tasks. The salesperson's personality isn't at the center. The salesperson's talent isn't at the center. The task is at the center.
By putting the task at the center, we shine a light on the way the body and mind communicate with each other. It was once thought the mind existed above the body–remember the advice to "be a third party in the sales call'?–but that belief is disproved by the evidence. In fact, it's easier to change the mind by changing behavior.
And by putting selling task at the center, the salesperson quiets the self. They push their thoughts away from their own qualities–their expectations, nerve and ego–and allow the salesperson to lose themselves in the task.
