Reframe Your Reality to Produce Results
The first day of training new salespeople began the day after Memorial Day. That Tuesday morning, Sandy Noonan, Henry Michaels, and two other people began our training program. That first day I explained everything to them about our sales presentation, the rationale, etc. and why it was important for them to learn it word-for-word. The analogy that I gave them was that of traveling down the rails on a train versus driving a car down the highway. With the former you can observe and focus on the environment and with the latter you cannot. So, it was important to be able to focus on your prospect and listen to their concerns. That’s where the sale is made. Naturally, it was acceptable to paraphrase for personal comfort, but not rewrite it. The next morning, we would begin role plays and in the afternoon discuss the telephone sales presentation which would be in front of them when they dialed. We called it “smiling and dialing.”
Sandy had previously worked in an administrative position at a bank and was a 29-year-old woman who wanted an opportunity to get into sales. She was unafraid of straight commissions and knew that she would need to find an entry-level position to make the switch from administration to sales. She really understood what Sales Development Associates was all about and she was smart, enthusiastic, and attractive. On Thursday, their third day, Sandy and Henry began setting up appointments. By Friday morning, Sandy had set two appointments. She was a natural!
The two other account executives I hired had dropped out by Thursday. Believe it or not, our structured approach was too demanding for them. They didn’t even possess the self-discipline required to learn our sales presentation. One of them sat across from me and attempted to give his sales presentation and it became obvious that he was reading it from his briefcase to the side of him. So, I said, “excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back,” and left my office. But, when I returned, instead of going back behind my desk, I sat down next to him and asked him to continue role playing his presentation. He got all befuddled and we agreed that he would be better off employed elsewhere. If you don’t have the self-discipline to learn your sales presentation, then you aren’t going to be successful as a salesperson.
At the end of that Thursday, Sandy came into my office and started to cry. Sobbing mercilessly, she explained that she had never sold before and was petrified to go out on a sales appointment by herself the next morning. My schedule wouldn’t allow me to go with her, but what I did do, however, was give her one of my best pep talks ever. I said, “Sandy, I’d like you to imagine something for me." “Okay,” she said as her whimpering began to subside. “Stop and imagine that you’ve been selling for 10 years and that you had personally sold over 1,000 accounts! How would you feel then? Would you be scared?” She replied, “No, of course not, I’d feel confident and just go out and sell them.” I said, “of course you would! Feel the confidence and remember that you know more about the services we provide than your prospect does. And when you go out tomorrow morning to make those sales calls, I want you to imagine that you’ve been selling for 10 years and that you have over 1,000 accounts, and behave accordingly. Just go about your business and remember, you know more about product publicity than they do. You’re going to do just fine. Go out there and have fun, Sandy.”
Sandy went out that Friday morning and made what we call a one call close. It was her first appointment and she nailed it, pulling in her first order and a check. She went on to set up a second appointment for the following week. We went to that meeting together on Tuesday and made her second sale.
She used reframing to change her attitude and set herself up to win. As they say, “Perception is reality.” The truth is that we can worry ourselves sick and become paralyzed or change our mindset to feel better and more confident so that we can win. The choice is ours. So, reframe your reality to produce results.
The above is an excerpt from Success and Self-Discovery.