So, after my small rant last week, I
wanted to get back to some basics. I found myself giving a parental speech to
my seven year old this week about telling lies and that there is no difference
between a “little white lie” and a bold faced fabricated story. A lie is a lie.
She was upset with one of her friends that told her something untrue and did
not understand why. I feel like I helped her understand, but it also made me
think about my daily routine in sales.
I don’t believe I’ve ever met a career,
‘A’ level sales person who has not been accused of telling a lie at some point
in their respective position. It goes without fail that simply because their
role is sales, they must lie at some point. I, myself, have been accused of
fabricating a story to close a deal. Shame on them…I proved my story to be
true. But, the accusation that I told a lie really stung, and it stuck with me
throughout the entire business relationship. Changing another person’s opinion
of sales is a challenge we will always face. So be it. There is one challenge
though that we must face head on immediately.
Too many sales people get caught up in
telling themselves, not a prospect or client, lies. Why does this happen? Are
you trying to convince yourself a situation is not what it seems to be? Are you
covering your tracks for a lack of performance?
Here are a few lies I’ve heard sales
people admit they tell themselves:
- ·
I’m
so busy right now I don’t know if I can take on anymore meetings this week
- ·
I
have enough prospects that I don’t need to cold call this week
- ·
I’m
going to skip the networking event tomorrow night, I have enough business right
now
- ·
I
am making the right calls to the right prospects, the market is just slow
currently
- ·
It’s
not me, I’m fine, the prospects just aren’t buying right now
And here are the actual circumstances
when confronted and finally honest with themselves:
- ·
I
thought I was busier but once a few appointments were cancelled I didn’t have
any backups
- ·
I
lost a few prospects and had to start cold calling over again
- ·
I
wanted to go out with my boyfriend so I skipped the networking event…turns out
my colleague came away with a few great prospects
- ·
(after
management suggested calling a different group of prospects) Looks like my list
was not as a good as I thought but things turned around when I began
prospecting to a different group
- ·
It’s
as important in how you say it as what you say…I guess my attitude has been
impacting my tone and it was me not the prospects
Sometimes, and I would wager more than
just sometimes, sales is hard because we make it hard on ourselves. Telling
yourself a lie to make your role sound better, to make you feel better about
your day, is like the “little white lie”. It is still a lie. Once you start
telling yourself lies, it will become a vicious cycle. Don’t start. Own up to a
shortcoming or two. Keep your focus and remember to work both hard and smart.
You will be better off for it.
Tags :