Mindset is everything.
Sales is arguably a mindset game and most salespeople get it wrong.
Let me tell you why…
Most sales reps I have spoken to over the last decade have told me that the reason they went into sales to begin with is to make more money. There’s no doubt that making commission is a massive upside to working in sales - but the issue arises when the initial motivation becomes the focus of your daily mindset.
When I was a young sales rep, I would often start my day, week, and especially month focused on how much commission I had made the prior month and how much I wanted to make in the current month. I was so caught up in this that every lost deal would put me in a bad mood. I would get frustrated at the opportunity cost of losing another dael and think:
I just lost $$$ in commission.
Now, don’t hear me wrong, I was still wildly successful for someone who had just started a sales career after transitioning from working as a chef (and making next to nothing), but my mindset was wrong.
Enter the mentor…
One day a mentor told me that I should approach every day with a winner’s mindset.
His exact advice was as follows:
“Wake up and tell yourself today I’m going to win 10 deals.
Don’t just say it.
Believe it.
Then go to the office and every time your phone rings think I’m going to win this one.”
Now, that may sound silly, but I decided to try it. I stopped worrying about my commission and started approaching every call with a positive attitude. When I lost a deal, I shrugged it off and went to the next one with the winner’s mentality.
Soon enough this evolved into a mindset where I truly wanted to help my customers and so I would go into everyday telling myself I was going to win by helping my customers win.
Can you guess what happened?
My commissions doubled the first month. I couldn’t believe it, but I decided I’d keep going to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Then the second month my commissions were higher than the first… and the same with the third month.
By the end of that year I was making six-figures for the first time in my life.
By shifting my mindset to be focused on helping the customer and going into every call as if it was already won, my financial situation drastically changed.
Challenge
The challenge is simple - think about how you approach each day and consider whether you have the right mindset or not.
I am not claiming that you will get rich simply by adopting the mindset described above. I wish it was that easy, but it’s not. You will still have to work harder than everyone else, every single day. You’ll still have to deal with the 80/20 rule of deals lost/won. You’ll still get hung up on, yelled at, called names, ignored, and pestered by your sales manager.
I am not even suggesting that my mindset is the one for every salesperson.
All I’m trying to say is the way you think about things matters and adopting a new mindset can change your life for the better. I sure am glad I gave it a try all those years ago.
If you’re interested in more resources on mindset, I’d highly recommend a few books that changed my perspective even further and one I’ve read at least once a year for the last six years.
Book Recommendations:
Grit by Angela Duckworth
The Go Giver by Bob Burg
The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday – I come back to this one time and again. It’s a must read, in my opinion.