Fear is self inducedYes really. Stop and think about that for a moment. Fear is something that we learn as we grow, after all have you ever seen a young child afraid? Probably not as young children do not know what fear is, they learn fear from their parents and other adults that they are around. Try this experiment next time you see a young child. Observe the child and its parents, when the child attempts to do some thing that the parents are afraid of you will note that the parents will shout or scream at the child to stop or be careful, the child will invariably turn and look at its parents wondering what all the fuss is about.As fear is learned and reinforced at school, it is here thafear takes on a whole new persona. For example, when some one that we like does not like us in return or your efforts to achieve are graded, where else do we find grading for levels of failure?Fear becomes insidious as you enter the business world, it is here that fear shackles you from attaining your true potential. I have seen this time and again where some one with great talent is fearful of making mistakes or taking a perceived risk and tragically they opt for, in their words, "my comfort zone". In the selling profession this can affect your income considerably, particularly if you are fearful of speaking to cold prospects. Have you experienced this yourself where you know you must go out and speak to the customer but are afraid that they may 1. Not like you 2. Say no, or 3.Ask you a difficult question about the product.Fear lives in your mind, and keeps you where you are, therefore fear is low impact and takes away your control over your income, life style, and success. To handle fear you have to make rules that you will adhere to no matter what.These rules and their implementation have helped many of my students overcome their fear.1. No Exceptions. The 'no exception' rule takes away your excuses for not wanting to do certain tacks. For example you have avoided making sales phone calls, this rule will ensure that you make the calls necessary to 50 new prospects a day, no matter what.2. Audit your Belief system. Your beliefs determine what you have and what you will achieve. Change your beliefs about failure or screw ups. Every one screws up, as my kids say "Build a Bridge and get over it". Simple, yes, but hard to implement. The problem is that we or well meaning friends, family or colleagues help you to keep revisiting your screw ups.3. Don't be hard on your self. Unfortunately we as humans have developed a knack of being to hard on ourselves and taking things far to seriously. This leads to problems both for individuals and society as a whole.To overcome fear we legislate, regulate and create greater barriers to hold our selves in, too afraid of trying some thing new and untried. This is a mental game. This is what sales, relationships and business is.4. Learn the rules of engagement. Never avoid problems, most people try and avoid their problems for fear of confrontation, or they fear being branded a confrontationist. By avoiding your problems you are compounding the issue, if your problem is asking for the sale and you haven't for fear of being considered pushy, confront it and learn to ask or you will lose the sale.5. Get Smarter. There are no quick fixes. If you are in sales and don't like people, you are in the wrong business. Sales of any description is a business of self confidence, so start learning ways of developing your own self confidence, start watching and learning what other successful people do in your business world. Read books, observe what separates the high income earners in your industry from the rest. Use the information you have gathered and act on it. Take one step at a time.6. Ask and you will get. Money rules are that that simple. If you do not ask you will not get. Speak to 100 new people a week about your product and you will get ahead. In Real Estate, for example, if you speak to 100 people a day you will have 6 new listings, which equates to income.There are no limits, only the ones that you impose on your self. Stop limiting your self with fear and believing that the competition is better than you. What if there was no competition, but only the competition in your own mind? In 99% of cases you only have to be less than 1% better to win the greater market share, so what is holding you back?
Original :: handling fear and rejection in sales
No comments:
Post a Comment