“By focusing on these elements, you’ll be a better salesperson, but you’ll also be a better human too.” – Anna Glynn in today’s Tip 1775
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Anna Glynn. Anna is a speaker, author, and coach, with a deep understanding of sales leadership and positive psychology. Having worked for a decade in the corporate sector, including leading national sales teams, Anna knows what it’s like to be responsible for driving performance in the workplace. Here she is:
Anna Glynn: We all know that meeting our targets is crucial in sales. If we hit them, we’ve done a good job. If we miss them by a lot, it might mean no job. Perhaps like you, I’ve long been interested in what actually drives success in sales. Over the past decade, I’ve researched the topic extensively, and what I’ve found might challenge our traditional understanding and focus.
While traditional sales skills are important for the job, after all, we need to know how to go out and sell, these skills like pipeline building, negotiation, and relationship management, although essential, alone, they don’t actually guarantee us success. These skills also don’t address the disengagement, pressure, or burnout that is currently having an impact on sales performance.
What really sets us up for success in sales are the mindsets and toolsets we bring to the job. In sport, we would call these the off-field factors, the activities that help players be better on field. They’re about how to be a salesperson as opposed to how to do sales that help us to achieve greater results that can be sustained over the long term. These are the elements that support us to handle pressure, cope well with our challenges, and thrive in spite of them.
What do these elements look like in more detail? I’ve found that there are six key principles that set us up for success in sales.
The first focuses on strengths. Top salespeople play to their strengths and manage their weaknesses, so they’re deeply engaged and satisfied, they feel confident, and are at their best when at work.
The next principle is all about trust. We know salespeople must build trust with their clients, but we also need to have trusting relationships with our team members, our leaders, and our other stakeholders. These relationships support us during the good times and the bad. We also need to be part of an environment that is psychologically safe so we can share and learn from our peers. This helps us to be resilient, creative, and innovative, giving us an edge over our competitors.
Given the number of setbacks and knockbacks faced in sales, the third principle emphasizes resilience, which empowers salespeople to easily and effectively move forward and grow from their struggles.
The fourth principle is optimism. Optimistic salespeople typically outperform their pessimistic counterparts by 20 to 40%. Need I say more? Optimists achieve more because they are more positive about the future. They problem-solve, they take action, and are more energetic as a result. We know that our relationships in sales are vital, but it’s not about the quantity, but rather the quality of our relationships that can support our success, as these can have a big impact on our energy and stress levels.
So the next principle is all about having high-quality connections around us.
And the final principle focuses on how salespeople can be accountable to achieve their goals stay motivated in incredibly difficult environments. I’ll give you a hint. These are the factors that drive us much more than money. The good news is that each of these principles can be taught and learned. And sales teams that have the mindset and toolset for success will always do better than those teams that focus on aptitude alone, because the conditions have been created for thriving, so people achieve more.
By focusing on these elements, yes, you’ll be a better salesperson, but you’ll also be a better human too. Because as you thrive at work, this will impact other aspects of your life, too. And what could be more successful than that?
Scott Ingram: To learn more and connect with Anna on LinkedIn, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1775. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!