Is your attitude right for selling? Read on and find out!
Few things are as written about, or as least understood, as “attitude.” To me, “attitude” means “My worldview and my approach to my work and life.” There’s an old phrase that says, “Your attitude determines your altitude,” and there’s a lot to be said for that. Over the years, I’ve found that successful salespeople start with a positive worldview and a proactive approach to their work and life.
Now, I’ll admit – I’ve tried for quite a while to come up with a cute catchphrase regarding attitude – there’s already the “YES” attitude, the “GO” attitude, and other stuff. Maybe I’m not a cute catchphrase kind of guy, but I do know what it takes to make the right attitude for successful selling. So without further ado, let’s break down the components of the successful sales attitude:
I happen to the world; the world doesn’t happen to me. This is the first of the Seven Principles of Highly Effective People; the idea that you can make a difference and impact any situation that you happen to be a part of. Success in sales means starting every morning with the desire to happen.
I am, first and foremost, a solver of problems. Successful selling is about solving problems – yours, your customers’, and your business associates.
I am a profit center for all those who associate with me. Your job as a salesperson is to be a guardian of, and creator of, profits for your employer; to be a generator of positive outcomes and solutions for your customers, and more positive outcomes for other business associates (such as referral partners).
I can find the positive in any situation, and will make this my focus. This isn’t Pollyanna nonsense; there are positives in any situation. For years, one of my core beliefs has been “As long as I’m looking down at the ground instead of up at it, all other problems are solvable.” Those who find and focus on negatives before positives won’t last long in selling.
I am better than my competition. This is simple, isn’t it? If you don’t believe – right down to your bones – that you are better than those you fight for business, you’re not going to win many of those fights. True commitment takes this belief and makes it reality by constantly developing your skills, your relationships, and your customers.
NOW is my moment. I’ve seen salespeople who had everything necessary to succeed except for one of the most important elements – time sensitivity. Successful salespeople don’t hear the clock ticking – they FEEL it in their bones. You can have lots of good stuff, but if you’re wasting the customer contact time window by messing around on Facebook, who’s going to see it?
My customers win just by seeing me. This is a big statement, of course, but it goes back to something I talk about all the time – the desire to create calls that have value built into them so that your customers – buy, don’t buy – are a little better off from the time you have spent with them. This means that you’ve imparted knowledge, helped solve a problem, etc. that wouldn’t have happened without your time.
Look, it’s not hard to see uncommitted people who have the wrong attitudes. It seems that media would like us to believe that our world is dominated with them – which I don’t think is true. But the next time someone asks you about your “attitude,” give yourself this test. How do you fare?
