Developing a sales business mind - The Comfort Zone (Part 4) - Day 492

If you haven't already, I suggest before continuing reading this blog, to firstly go through the first 3 blogs the series "Developing the Business Mind""

• Understanding the energetic cycle
• The WHY
• The Numbers Game

From my previous blog post:

"…I often hear people that are in the process of giving up that they have done everything in their power to make their business work yet, they keep on failing. When opening the point with them, there are underlying currents of excuses, justification and projected blame as to why they are not making it in sales. This has primarily to do with the main 2 components that we discussed thus far- the 'WHY' and 'Effective Numbers game' application.

I looked at this point and the process that I've walked and I found that there is one more primary component that needs to be realized and applied in one's process of developing a sales business mind - the Comfort Zone - this will be discussed in the next blog post."

An interesting thing that I found with regards to the 'Comfort Zone' is that in many cases, the comfort zone is not necessarily a physical place that we feel comfortable at - Fascinating enough, the comfort zone is primarily inside our own MIND. Let me explain:

As a sales person, 80% of your time should be allocated for lead generation, to ensure a consistent flow of the business where new clients come on board on a regular basis. Once they have leads, the next step is to call these leads and schedule appointments and afterwards, make the sale. Some sales people would develop a resistance to lead generations, others would create a resistance to scheduling appointments, others would have resistance to make the appointments - but all sales people at some stage or another would experience a resistance, even if it is just a slight resistance. 

Resistance has usually to do with fears or beliefs about ourselves like: "I don't want to make mistakes", "I feel that I am not ready", "I need to perfect myself before I meet people", "I don't know what to say" and so forth.

Resistance can also be due to difficulties with following a strict routine like for instance, having to do the same thing every day can create the experience of boredom inside of ourselves and we would want to rebel against our strict schedule with saying to ourselves, for instance: "I don't want to do it today, I will do it tomorrow" or "I made enough sales this month, let's just chill out".

Another type of resistance that a salesperson may face occurs just before they go out for an appointment, here I found that the resistance is mostly undefined, very slight, not so many thoughts around it - it is primarily an experience - this I will open up in one of my next blog posts.

In this blog post, I would like to share about my own experience that I faced in relation to scheduling appointments and how I supported myself to step out of the resistance and apply that which I needed to apply:

What I found for myself in my previous work place is my tendency to pick up the phone and call people BUT 90% of my calls where towards my old clients, aiming to give them a service, follow up on them, maintaining my relationship with them - though, in self honesty - it was an escape from having to deal with new people; I felt much more comfortable talking with my existing clients rather than recruiting new clients.

I remember a time where my boss asked me why am I not scheduling new appointments - I looked at him and said - "you have no idea how busy I am with giving service to my clients - it takes up most of my day to give them the best service that I can". And I mean, with me saying that in the tonality that I expressed myself as - no one could argue with me, I sounded so confident in my words as if giving service to my existing clients is the most important thing in the world.

So - my justifications/excuses were validated by my work environment which for a moment, I actually believed that I must only focus on existing clients and get referrals here and there, instead of aligning my schedule in such a way where I do give service to existing clients BUT, spending most of my time to lead generation and scheduling appointments so that my business could grow effectively.

The resistance that I faced was with contacting new people, with creating a relationship with new people opposed to feeling 'safe' with the clients that I already know. To me, contacting new people met with great effort on a mental level - this part of the business was not yet natural to me in the sense that I could just do it without having to think about what to say or how to act. By allowing myself to resist this part of the business instead of supporting myself to master the application as a living expression of myself, I compromised my business by going into my comfort zone in the mind, accepting my resistance to interact with new people (prospect clients).

What do I mean by 'Comfort Zone' - the mind keeps on bringing excuses and justifications that at times, seem so real and right. By accepting these resistances as validated thoughts, justifications and excuses, we allow ourselves to not follow through with what we planned to do, but instead we fall back to what we naturally good at. In my case, I was naturally good in giving services to my clients, maintaining my relationship with them, making sure that they are happy with the product and/or the company. In this, there was no mental effort on my side - it was an easy application - this was my mental comfort zone.

When I investigated my resistances to do lead generation and/or call to schedule appointments - one of the dimensions that I found was the idea that I was bored with this type of routine; meaning, this was the excuse that I primarily used inside myself to not step out of my comfort zone. When opening up the point of boredom, I found that I haven't effectively integrated the concept of the numbers game so every time I was about to call a new prospect clients I had this thought: "No, not again, I don't want to do it". So what I then did to support myself in physically stepping out of my comfort zone was to find ways to make it entertaining when contacting a new prospect client. I would, for instance, give myself challenges like: "while calling this client, stand on one foot" or " while calling this client, stand on the chair" lol. Another method that I found was to change my script and every time pitch differently - In this, I transformed the boredom experience into something that is fun and entertaining, not allowing the mind to have any justifications and excuses such as boredom.

By changing the dynamic when calling new people, I started to enjoy contacting new people and the resistances that I faced before, started to fade away. Essentially, as I pushed through and applied the techniques of contacting new people, I perfected the skill within myself and eventually it became a normal living expression of myself that didn't require any mental effort.

Will continue  with the comfort zone concept more in the next blog post

Developing a sales business mind - The Numbers Game (Part 3) - Day 491

In my Previous blog, I ended off with the statement:

"…In business and especially in sales, we cannot allow ourselves to be influenced by emotions/reactions/frictions - we have to ground ourselves and be consistent within our daily application. Having a 'WHY' is of great support if the 'why' is genuine and can stand the test of time. Test of time meaning - when the 'why' is so strong inside yourself where it doesn't matter what you face, it won't change who you are and what you stand for/as. So, if you are in sales and you haven't yet allocated your own individual 'why' - I suggest you take a moment and find inside of yourself your 'why' to support yourself in difficult times. With having the 'why' and understanding the 'number game' (which I will explain in my next blog) - nothing is impossible…"

One of the first things that you learn as a sale person is the term 'numbers game' - the more prospects you identify, the more contacts you make, the more appointments you have, the more sales you make. Though, if it was as simple as that, we would all have been rich by now won't we?

When I first got a direct sales job, my boss wanted to measure my level of commitment or, in other words - he wanted to see how far I will push myself to make the business work and in that, what creative ways I could come up with to make it work. He called me 2-3 days before I started my first day and he asked me to prepare a list of 500 potential clients before I come to work. Obviously, I didn't know 500 people and even if I would, the people that I knew would not fit the company profile as potential prospects. But, I accepted the challenge and jumped right to the deep water. Little did I know that the list was a test to measure my commitment, creativity and strength but more importantly, it was for me to recognize my ability to stand, direct and create meaning, the list was not so much for my boss but more for me - to eliminate any and all excuses that may come in the future where the statement: "I have no leads" can be valid and instead break through my own limitations to discover the ability to create.

I spent the weekend making lists of people and contact details with the most incredible help that I found - Google; and by the first day of work - I already had extensive lead data base to start working with. When I got to work on the first day, I was briefly trained on the marketing approach, the value of the product that we sold and 2-3 hours later, I was already making phone calls to schedule appointments. Obviously, I was terrible in my real time application, it was so awful that I felt so embarrassed inside myself. But, I had a 'why' in front of my eyes - I couldn't give up even though I really wanted to. With the support of my boss, who is a master in direct sales, I learned from the mistakes I have made and made it a point for myself to investigate what went 'wrong' and align it the next time; basically, I had to realize that perfection is not something that you born with - it is something I must create and become within myself through walking the process of making mistakes, learn from the mistakes, align and correct in the physical reality.

The next problem that I faced was with not completely and effectively understand the 'numbers game' principle and thus, I went into the energetic cycle during the first 3 months as I explained in the first blog post of this blog series. See, in my mind, because I had extensive lead data base, I believed that I am playing the numbers game yet, little to no result actually manifested - I was able to schedule appointments and meet new people though the people that I met with were not the type of clients that were suited for our company and so, my effort was in vein essentially.

For example, the first 500 contact details list that I created was very random and if I would to look a bit deeper at the details, I would have seen that 450 out of the 500 names were not qualified for the type of business that we did at all. That means that I spent all this time making phone calls to 450 people, meeting with a few of them, hoping that the 'numbers game' principle will work for me and when that didn't work out I open the door for me to access the energetic cycle.

Here, I had to understand that hope, cannot take place in a business - I must know the product, know my prospect clients and specify my application to success or otherwise, I will waste my own time

The clock was ticking as there was a 'why' that I had to accomplish very fast which to me was the number 1 priority - I was at the breaking point but I could not allow myself to give up - I had to push myself forward and reach my goals. So I set down with myself and brain storm my options - by the end of the day, I created a new marketing approach to a new market that was never tested/walked at the office - it was a long shot but there was nothing much to lose - I had to create a plan to work in the right market and apply the numbers game. I spent a lot of time in lead generation because that was the heart of the business - if I didn't have qualified leads, there was no business to build. I found lead generation to be the most time consuming part of the business, the most boring part of the business, the most down motivated part of the business AND the most expensive part of the business. Though, if following through the process effectively, specifically and consistently, the lead generation phase turns into gold which is the most rewarding part of the business.

Once I focused the lead generation phase in the right market, with the right people, an interesting thing happened: I still played the numbers game though I had to put in less effort than before (when I worked with the 500 random people list that I made before I started the business). Meaning, previously, I called maybe 100 people, seen 10 people and closed 1 sale. Now, with the focused market list, I called 12 people, met 4 people and closed 2 sales. Thus, with understanding that the game must be played within the right market, my effort and creativity was specific and the only real challenge was to find 12 new prospect every week though, it wasn't a struggle anymore because 12 people, is not a lot to ask for.

So the point here is to understand the relationship between the numbers game principle and the energetic cycle that a sales person goes through when not applying the numbers game effectively, specifically and consistently. It is very easy to blame the business or the product/service and make so many excuses and justifications in the mind as to why the business isn't working for oneself. Though, in self honesty one have to ask oneself at the end of each day: Did I apply the numbers game effectively - did I generate new specific potential leads today? Did I schedule appointments today? Did I had an appointment today? If any of these questions answered with a 'no' than you must realize that you didn't apply the numbers game effectively and you will soon enough access the energetic cycle because you allowed yourself to sit back and stray from your purpose, from your 'why'.

I often hear people that are in the process of giving up that they have done everything in their power to make their business work yet, they keep on failing. When opening the point with them, there are underlying currents of excuses, justification and projected blame as to why they are not making it in sales. This has primarily to do with the main 2 components that we discussed thus far- the 'WHY' and 'Effective Numbers game' application.

I looked at this point and the process that I've walked and I found that there is one more primary component that needs to be realized and applied in one's process of developing a sales business mind - the Comfort Zone - this will be discussed in the next blog post.

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Art work: Richard Diebenkorn, Seated Woman No. 44, 1966

Does the System have power over you? (Part 2) - Day 454

This is a continuation to the previous blog and within this blog, I will share the manifested consequences that I experienced and how I am assisting and supporting myself in changing my living application from Stress and Concerns to a Moment by Moment by Moment walking that which needs to be walked.

 

So during the week, I accumulated many moments where I wasn't 'here' from the sense of being too much in the mind, looking at the next moment/task/assignment/meeting, worrying about what needs to be done, what is coming ahead and on top of that, on a physical level, I didn't sleep much and so basically, everything compounded within and as myself.

 

By the sixth day, when I did have a moment to rest and "recharge" myself so to speak, I found that I was not able to because I was too busy in my mind, planning, looking, structuring the next week lol.

At some stage I had enough and decided to take responsibility for this point but yet, within a reaction so in other words, the decision to take responsibility for this point was not genuine and thus shortly later, I went back to the same state of mind - stressful, worried, concerned and so forth.

 

So practically, I was like a zombie, wasn't really functioning, focused and  'here' and so, my productivity level was not as effective as I know myself to be. That created even more stress because I still had to complete all my responsibilities and with me not being productive, I started to judge and be frustrated with myself. I was irritated by everything and everyone and by the next day, it was so much inside my mind that I was emotionally unstable  nor grounded and it had obviously created consequences with my direct environment because I wasn't pleasant being to be around.

 

Then, another point opened up in terms of my responsibilities that I decided to walk and at that stage, I was overwhelmed and couldn't see how the hell am I going to do everything lol.

The first thing that I really had to realize is that - the responsibilities that I'm walking now are accumulation of decisions that I've made throughout my life - to place myself in specific situations/responsibilities, to walk specific points, to stand where I am standing now. Within that, realizing that I was the one who made these decisions, I am the one who is able to stand by these decisions and thus, all I require to is to shift around the priorities within my day to day schedule and accordingly, walk moment by moment within the principle of what would be the best application in any given moment in time. See, the problem was that I was trying to do is everything at once which created a lot of pressure and stress within myself, and my body. However, with shifting around the priorities, I could see that practically, I can apply everything I set myself for.

 

So, how to bring these realizations to a practical living application -

From the understanding that who I am is an accumulation of decisions that I've made, self responsibility is possible. What does it practically mean is that - I trust myself that I will get everything done, I've done and proven it before and what wasn't in alignment was the way I had prioritized my time in relation to my responsibilities. Meaning - instead of walking around stressful for everything that needs to be done, I give my absolute focus to each task that I apply, checking, assessing that I haven't miss anything, cross referencing and from there, move to the next moment.

 

Sometime other points will become a priority and I will give for a moment attention to the other priority and then ensure that I go back and complete the other task. This is essence means - moment by moment as a living application which must be practiced over time and the beauty within it all that within a moment by moment application one can actually expand oneself unlike with a stressful application where one is in essence limit one's expression.

 

In blogs to come, I would also share and expand a bit more what does it means: "Business comes first", "Process comes first", "Children come first" as this is a crucial point to realize when applying the principle of that which is best for all in a moment by moment living application.

 

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Art work - http://henrimag.com/blog1/

 

 

 

 

 

Does the System have power over you? - Day 453

When working in the world system, and specifically when running a business, one has to stand within specific deadlines, goals, results, etc. from the starting point of realizing that unless one moves oneself, nothing would move; the business won't move.

 

If you ask anyone who started a business sometime in their lives, they would tell you that the first 2 years of the business were the busiest years in their life whereas one has to work 24/7 almost, as one make oneself available for what ever may come, for what ever needs to be directed.

Within that scenario, if one isn't stable within and as oneself, it is unlikely that one would make their business a success.

The most effective way to get through this process effectively is by applying 'Moment by Moment' principle as a Living application. Have a look -

 

Place yourself in that business man/woman shoes - imagine that your daily schedule is fully occupied from 6AM to 1AM where throughout the entire day, you have business meetings, managing and directing the stuff, phone calls with clients and suppliers and so forth. Imagine also that you are the one that is running the entire operation and for most part, every aspect of your business is depended on your performance.

 

That in itself is stressful point which we will get to in a moment but what I would implore you to have a look at now is the first moment of waking up in the morning at 5:30AM, knowing that the next time that you will be seeing your bed is in 20 hours from now. So you get out of bed, barely have time for coffee nevertheless breakfast, you get into your car and drive yourself to the first meeting. The next moment, it is already 10AM in the morning and a thought comes up - "OMG, it is just the beginning of the day… " so you continue with your meetings and it is lunch time - we all know how the buddy feels when you are physically tired and food is being processed in the stomach - you become even more tired. BUT - you have to continue to the next meeting; a few hours later, you look at the time, it feels like you have been working for the whole day already, you check the time, it's 3PM and "OMG - there is still so much ahead."

So you continue with your day, don't have much time for dinner but you grab something to eat and continue with your meetings, your eyes are heavy, you are physically tired, you look at the watch and "Shame, 4 more hours to go".

Now imagine, this is your life for a moment - some days will be like these, some days will be more flexible but in general - you are busy busy busy.

 

So - a suggestion here for all of us who have a busy life, either those that work in the world system or parents that are with their children 24/7 - when a thought comes up such as: "this is going to be a long day/week"; or "OMG, there is so much a head" - Stop these thoughts within yourself immediately, take a breath - This would be the first step.

 

The second step is to realize is the importance of living Moment by Moment - 

For instance, when I have weeks like that, I used to feel sorry for myself,  I would wake up in the morning, wishing it would be night time already. I would look at the time during the day and be frustrated that there is so much ahead. Within this, I haven't realize that as long as I allow myself to participate with these thoughts, I'd actually perpetuated the tiredness even more, making it unnecessarily hard for myself to move ahead with my day and be as effective as I can be. Within this, I also sabotaged my work/performance because while I was in a meeting (a moment), I already in my mind planned the next moment, thinking about the next moment which implies that I was not fully committed to the current meeting (moment).

 

Fascinating enough, this week was one of these weeks and I remember sharing with another my schedule for the day. What happened in that moment was that I could hear myself lol - when I expressed my frustration out, I could hear my own voice tonality and I could see what I was doing inside myself and that was unacceptable. At that moment, a physical change had to be lived and therefore, I stood within myself and I voiced the words: "Maya, Moment by Moment - it's time to live these words".

 

So for a moment, I assisted and supported myself to focus on what needed to be done/directed in that meeting/task/assignment and once the task/meeting/assignment was effectively done, I moved to the next point however, I found that it isn't as easy as it sounds because I've accumulated stress and worries throughout the entire week for instance, and therefore, as of yet, I cannot self honestly say that I've changed and that I now absolutely live moment by moment as this I have to walk and physically apply consistently, over time until living moment by moment is an expression of myself.

 

Within my next blog I will be sharing the manifested consequences that I've experienced during the busy week that I had and how through participating in stress in relation to time and  responsibilities, I sabotaged my physical body. I will also share what I'm doing to assist and support myself in relation to stress, worries and changing my application to a moment by moment living application so stay tuned.