Curb your lack of sales enthusiasm
The news that season 12 is going to be the last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm - with the ever-maligned Larry David griping and colliding his way through a barrage of misunderstandings - has brought me back to a question about levels of sales enthusiasm I would always talk about in my How To Ask For The Sale workshops [spoiler: Larry David may be wrapping up but a new series of my workshops start back up in March].
Every business owner and entrepreneur has experience of feeling unenthusiastic about sales. There are times we stop ourselves from leaping at the opportunity to spend time on sales. We have times where we are reluctant to talk about ourselves or to ask strangers questions even when we know it could be an excellent opportunity for us and our business (hello there, self-sabotage).
We all have unenthusiastic sales moments - and it’s just that: a moment or a stage in time or in your learning experience. Yet when I speak with entrepreneurs and business owners, they frequently tell me they are unenthusiastic because they “aren’t salespeople.”
First, I intrinsically disagree with this labeling - you may avoid sales, but it doesn't make you a lousy salesperson. You may even have poor sales results, but again - it doesn't mean you are doomed in sales - you don't have the skill in place yet, and you have an opportunity to work on and fine-tune that skill.
Here's the problem with being unenthusiastic about sales: You are letting your lack of enthusiasm for sales define your business results. You love what you do, but your sales activities need to reflect this knowledge, passion, or abilities.
In more than a decade of working in sales with entrepreneurs, business development teams at startups, government agencies, and global 1000 companies, I’ve seen a lack of enthusiasm crush entrepreneurs, damage sales teams, and stagnate revenue.
The good news is that you can add enthusiasm to your sales process. Some steps:
Get back to why you are doing what you are doing. Write down the outcomes you can deliver to your clients, then dig deeper into what these results genuinely mean to them. For example, we help transform sales conversations. While the immediate consequence is more frequent and confident sales conversations, the actual outcome is giving our clients more financial security, a lifelong skill, increased confidence, and the funds to do what they want with their lives.
Put a timer on for 30 minutes to remember how capable you are. Step away from everything you are doing, find a quiet space, and spend 45 minutes listing everything you have done, completed, initiated, helped clients achieve, had fun with, and celebrated in your business and career. No negative thoughts or notes, no regret over things that have changed, just pure appreciation of what you have done.
Take time out. When you’re feeling sales or revenue pressure, this can sound counterproductive, but your brain and emotions must take a step back. When you’re stressed, your body produces adrenaline and cortisol. Give yourself a day off where you step away – note: [Binge-watching Netflix for 12 hours does not count], take a train or trip to somewhere new, walk around, and reconnect with yourself. (If you can grab a weekend, even better, but as a parent, I know 48 hours of solitude can be tricky to organize). Whatever it looks like, give yourself permission to take a break.
Be organized in your sales. When clients – whether an entrepreneur, startup team or larger sales team – ask for sales help, frequently poor organization hinders the sales process. It’s hard to feel enthusiastic about sales when you waste time figuring out who you need to speak with, what’s already been said, or know what to do next. Keeping prospecting and sales organized helps you to step into action. Spending an hour trying to figure out what you’re meant to do next can steal enthusiasm from the best of us.
Know your sales numbers. Sales is a game of numbers in every possible way – you need to know how many contact, conversations, asks, conversions. Just wanting to “make more” is not a sales goal.
Keep focused on your secret goal. I mean that personal goal you want to achieve more than anything that frequently lies behind your sales goals. Write it down and look at it every single day. Don’t want to stick it on the bathroom mirror? Write it on a tape at the bottom of your laptop screen. Or screenshot it and keep it on your phone.
Mix with people who are enthusiastic about what they do. If you’re an entrepreneur, come and join me when our Ask For The Sale workshops start back up, or join me for 90 days to shift your sales mindset and behaviors [link below].
Finally, stop being so hard on yourself. Yes, you need to get comfortable being uncomfortable - but you’ve done that hundreds of times before within your life, career, and business. We frequently need to remind ourselves of everything we have achieved and the inner strength at our disposal.
Want to start changing your mindset about sales? Sign up to join me from March 1 for the Sales Mindset Makeover. We'll dive into everything that keeps you in check and stops you from taking deliberate sales action and changing that "can't" mindset to one of pure sales enthusiasm.