Today’s Rocket Fuel is about understanding and accepting your degree of control at each step of the sales process. In this excerpt from TOP Seller (available on Amazon), Bob Stephens is talking to the new salespeople about managing a positive attitude, when Rudy, a peer of Bob’s, talks about the stress he experienced when he lost a sale because of his head office:
Rudy stands up to make his point. "I'd like to get some advice on a situation I recently went through: I had a client who had agreed to the specifications and the pricing and was ready to sign the contract… all I needed was head office's approval. By the time they were finished changing what we had put together, the client decided not to go with us and placed the contract with the competition. I was so disappointed I was ready to quit." "We're glad you didn't, Rudy. Tell us how you handled it?" "I finally told myself I had done everything right and that this situation was beyond my control." "Rudy, you learned a valuable lesson about control and how it affects a good attitude. There are steps in the sales process we have a great deal of control over, and there are others that we don't. For example, do we have control over the number of Leveraging interviews we ask for?" Everyone nods. "What about picking up the phone and calling the referrals we get to book appointments?" Jade speaks up. "Well, you have control over making the calls, but you don't have control over whether they book an appointment with you." "So how do you control the number of appointments you book, Jade?" "By making more calls - you always have control over that." "What about the number of initial interviews you book, or the number of meetings you arrange for discovering needs or presenting solutions? Do you have control over those?" "The further you go down in the sales process, the less control you have," Jade states. "Precisely, Jade!" I focus my attention back on Rudy and continue. "In the example you gave us, you and your client were right at the end of the sales process. The problem is both the client and head office had all the control over whether this deal went forward. Is that right?" Three or four voices call out in unison. "Right!" "For years, I rewarded and punished myself for things I couldn't control - things like results. When the results were there, I was the happiest person in the office… and when they weren't, I beat myself up. The ironic thing was that most of the time when I was celebrating the results that were coming in, I wasn't doing the important things that had led to the results - things like prospecting, making telephone calls, and so on. Later on, when the results dropped off, I punished myself - even though I was back to prospecting and making calls again. What I have learned is that you must always reward yourself for doing the things that you can control - those things that contribute directly to your long-term success. There's nothing wrong with celebrating when the results come in as long as you regularly reward yourself for the activities that make the results possible.
I believe that salespeople who accept that there are some parts of the sales process they have significant control over and other parts they have little or no control over end up being far happier in their careers and ultimately more productive! This does not suggest that rewarding yourself for results isn't important, but that you need to remember to pat yourself on the back for doing those things that lead to the results you are striving for!
Onward and upward!
Written by Brian Kjenner
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