Didja ever notice how some people are reliable to produce results while others simply can’t seem to get what they want?
I see it all the time in sales. MY sales.
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I have DEVOTED myself to studying and learning to be reliable to produce results. And, it’s not by lowering the bar. It is by being on a MISSION to find the ways that I have fooled myself into failure. Hopefully, you can just learn these from me and you don’t have to make all these mistakes yourself.
#1 Way We Fool Ourselves Into Failure:
Thinking that email is the same as having a conversation or making a real request.
Email is an excellent vehicle for transmitting data, getting information, and exchanging ideas. Sometimes you can get people to agree to act through email, especially if it is a personal email.
But, if you think that you are going to fill your seminar, or get a babysitter for your children, or set a meeting with a prospect simply by sending out a blanket email, you are fooling yourself.
When the stakes are high, you’ve got to make SURE that you reach the other person, get their buy-in, and that they are willing and able to act on your request.
Many salespeople think that because they sent out 500 emails that they have accomplished something.
Not until someone responds to you with the favorable outcome you were hoping for have you achieved anything. Counting that email as a true sales activity is fooling yourself into failure.
#2 Way We Fool Ourselves Into Failure:
Thinking that a commitment is the same as a closed deal.
Someone said “yes”. You are elated. You have landed a new client.
EXCEPT, you haven’t.
Until there is INK ON PAPER, you have no new client. You have a commitment to buy, but you are now only between 70-90% of the way through the sale. Until someone signs on the line that is dotted, you do not have a closed deal.
#3 Way We Fool Ourselves Into Failure:
Thinking that because you have a closed deal, you can spend the money.
Someone said “yes”. AND, they put ink on paper. You can now go spend the commission!
NOT YET!
I’ve learned this one the hard way. Until the money is in the bank (and the right-to-rescind period has passed), the money is not yours. If you spend it and the deal unravels, guess what! You now have to figure out a way to pay it back! Not fun.
#4 Way We Fool Ourselves Into Failure:
Thinking we’ve had more sales conversations than we’ve actually had.
I used to really suffer from this one. I’ve been selling, selling, selling, but nothing is closing.
When I look back to count how many of those selling, selling, selling conversations I ACTUALLY had, I’m stunned! Where did they all go?
Now, I count. I make a weekly goal and I track every single sales conversation I have. No more mystery.
And, amazingly, as the number of conversations goes up, so does the amount of closed business! (No ~ an email or text is still not a conversation UNLESS it leads to ink on paper. Count this kind of ink as ONE sales conversation only. No more fooling YOU into failure!)
#5 Way We Fool Ourselves Into Failure:
Thinking you can multi-task.
I don’t mean to belabor a point. But, very few of us, myself included, have truly mastered focus. And focus wins MORE deals! Period.
The reality is that multi-tasking steals money out of your pocket.
I am working on eliminating multi-tasking and it is not easy. Don’t be fooled into failure by thinking you can pull this one off!
There!
It takes a courageous person to dig in and examine how they are fooling themselves into failure. I would love to hear, where have you fooled YOURSELF into failure?
Love your successful life UP!
The Irreverent Sales Girl
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