Author: Ramesh Patodia
A typical sales process can be broadly divided as follows.
- Mindset
- Goals & Strategy
- Actual sales
- Appointment
- Introduction
- Sales Pitch
- Discussions
- Closing
- After sales service
Hundreds of books have been written on these topics, and are part of standard sales training programs. This piece will focus on most important, but often ignored topic – MINDSET.
Most failures in sales are driven due to salespersons’ excessive focus on tactics and techniques, in absence of the right Mindset. And having the right Mindset is likely to drive your success no just in sales, but in life.
Mindset can be further deconstructed into three logically sequential components: having the right attitude, which in turn can drive having the right behaviour, which in turn allows for identification and execution of optimal tactics. Let’s talk about each of these components in a little more detail.
Attitude
Attitude refers primarily to how one feels about themselves internally, and the resulting mindset with which they conduct themselves in various situations. Radiating outwardly, this also includes how one perceives their workplace, their marketplace, their competition, and even the opportunities in the economy.
An important implication of this is that those who have the right attitude, tend to look inwards for improvement and progress, rather than outwards. However, this does not necessarily come easy to most people. It demands mental and emotional resilience. In general, but particularly in sales, one must be willing to fail.
Therefore, it is reasonable to say that attitude is the most important criterion for success in any field. Sports is a field where this is well known and seen the most: the loss may be incurred after the game is over but in reality, it was incurred when one gave up in their mind.
Some observable indicators of a good attitude include, but are not limited to the following: enthusiasm, passion, optimism, self-love, persistence etc.
On the other hand, some observable indicators of a bad attitude include, but are not limited to the following: pessimism, lack of enthusiasm, low self-esteem, lack of persistence or even effort, propensity to blame others etc.
Behaviour
Behaviours are determined by one’s attitude. They are manifestations of one’s needs, wants, goals, dreams, desires, and your commitment to see them through.
They are the conscious actions one takes on a daily basis to improve and grow in a specific field (such as sales), or even in life.
Specifically in sales, advantageous behaviour is best facilitated through planning, making a concerted effort to learn consistently about the product, customer, market etc., upgrading one’s skills through certifications, online courses etc., and demonstrating hard work and discipline.
Tactics
Tactics are determined by one’s attitude and behaviour. They are specific skills and techniques that can be utilised to execute one’s behaviour to obtain optimal results, and every endeavour in sales will involve some level of tactics. However, the style in which one is able to utilise tactics will be driven by their attitude and behaviour. Ultimately, you should feel good in addition to the utilisation of tactics, rather than feel bad.
If you analyse any result, and you will clearly see MINDSET to be the root cause of almost every success of failure. So start cultivating the right mindset.
