Developing a sales business mind - The Undefined Resistance (Part 5) - Day 493

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
• The Comfort Zone

From my previous blog post:

"…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…"

With my experience in sales, and specifically direct sales, I found that I always experienced a slight movement of resistance inside of myself when I stepped out of my door to go see a client or when a client came to the appointment in my office. It is interesting, when I am looking at the point now, I see that I also experienced it when I was working in restaurants or bars (which is also about selling products) - there was a movement of resistance inside of me with the thought: "I don't want to go there".

Recently I was intrigued to investigate the resistance point and I found a fascinating thing:

I noticed that in the past, even though I always experienced the resistance prior to the appointment, the moment I saw the potential client and shake hands with them, the resistance faded away immediately and I enjoyed myself doing the presentation and making sales.

This raised a question - how come the resistance prior to the appointments didn't affect the presentations? Why did it fade away when I met the client? Why didn't I act on the resistance and cancelled appointments when the thought "I don't want to go there" came up?

So what I found when looking at these questions was that the resistance had nothing to do with the clients, with the business or with the product that I was selling - the resistance, fascinating enough, was coming from the fear of the unknown - fear of meeting new people that I haven't seen before.

Sales people may or may not experience this movement inside of themselves; some may listen to the thought and cancel the appointments and consequencsially, their business will fall. Others may experience this movement but it won't be the same or it won't be from the same origin point like for instance, instead of fearing the unknown, it can be fearing feeling inferior to the client. It is not so much about the resistance itself, it is who we are in relation to the resistance and whether or not we would allow the resistance to control us or are we going to move ourselves.

The point is that each one of us have to identify the nature of the resistance, the origin/source of the resistance, to assist and support ourselves to move beyond our limitations and follow through with our 'WHYs'. Then, the next step when the thought/resistance comes up is to take a deep breath, remind ourselves of our 'WHYs' and simply push through and go out there to apply ourselves in the best way that we can. In other words, it is to step out of the comfort zone (from the thoughts that comes up in our mind) and do what we planned to do and walk the path that we set forth for ourselves and within that, to not allow any back door to our comfort zone in our minds to define our self-movement.

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

Developing a sales business mind - understanding the energetic cycle (Part 1) - Day 489

The start of a new business is like Energetic roller-coaster ‎with ups and downs - there are periods where everything seems to be working for us and then the next moment comes and we feel that everything is wrong. Obviously, as long as everything is in order, we indulge in the positive experience and hold on to it as long as we possibly can because deep inside, we know that this positive energy would eventually fade away and we would either experience neutral or negative energy before the positive energy emerge again.

In the business world, the Energetic Roller-Coaster is primarily seen at the beginning phases of the business. For instance, in sales businesses, it takes time for a business to take off the ground. One has to first understand how the business works, what is the value of the product or service that the company sells, who are the target clients, how to reach these potential clients, how to advertise your product/service, how to present your product/service in the most effective way, how to create attractive payment plans, how to manage the cash flow and so forth.

In the beginning, the sales person would invest a lot of money, time and effort into the business with little to no return as there is a process to walk to get the wheel turning on a physical level. Unfortunately, most people do not understand in sales, the actions that one take now, WILL bring result in the future ONLY if they continue driving themselves/business consistently and therefore, most sales people would access energetic cycle through which they would either step out from or give up.

The Energetic cycles that I faced in sales functioned as follows:

In the first month of work, I was super motivated, excited and I pushed myself beyond my own expectations though, I kept forgetting that what I am walking now will only bear fruits in the future. Inevitably, reality knocked on my door and reminded me that the physical reality is moving way slower than how I move myself in my mind and, with forgetting the basic physical principles, I accessed negative energy of frustration, impatience by the end of the third month. This was the breaking point where I had to make a decision - to continue pushing myself and the business or to give up. With the support of my sales mentor, I decided to push myself and the business. Later I realized that it wasn't just me that went into the breaking point at the end of the third month - anyone that came after me to the company faced exactly the same thing where initially they were motivated and slowly but surely their energy level declined and they gave up. I investigated this point further and I found that the 3 months breaking point is a pattern that most sales people face no matter what and where they sell.

Making the decision to continue walking the business wasn't the end of the energetic cycle - after the breaking point phase came the next phase which I call the 'promises phase'. The promises phase is when I started seeing the movement but it was not yet tangible, touchable - it was definitely in the future but not yet completely here. In this phase, I would normally find myself accessing the positive energy of excitement, anticipation and sort of relaxation, as if I can breathe again. This I found to be a dangerous phase - this energy feels so great, you want to stay in it for as long as you can.

On a business level, what I found within myself was a slacking phase wherein, instead of consistently moving the business, I would hold onto the promises that were made, calculate the future income as if the money was already in the bank and thereafter allowed myself to lay back for a moment and do nothing. Obviously, this had to fall because not all promises matured to actual sales and I had to start everything from the beginning because during the slacking phase, I didn't make sure that the movement was constant and so, with starting again, I found myself again in the braking point cycle which could have been detrimental if I would choose to give up at the end of the cycle.

For myself, I realized that I cannot allow myself to cycle through these phases again and again and again - I must apply consistency no matter what the mind is telling me. I realized that Promises is not something that I can work with and I must continue moving myself to source more clients, have more appointments and more sales to ensure the success of my business.

How did I apply consistency as a living expression of myself?

In sales, there is always a pattern of success that one can identify and categorize into a daily living application. For instance, as a sales person, you must generate leads, schedule appointments, make appointments, close the sale, get referrals and support your client with your product/service. As a sales team leader, you must follow up on your team, open opportunities for them, coach them, train them and so forth. Each person must identify the specifics steps that they must walk to ensure their individual success and thereafter, schedule these steps into a daily living application. So with the example of a sale person where you know that you must generate leads every day, schedule appointments, performing appointments, follow up on your clients - place each step as a time frame in your daily schedule. For instance, plan 2 hours of your day to make phone calls wherein, 1 hour is to schedule appointments and another hour to follow up on existing clients.

Each step needs to be pre-defined as to how many hours a day will you devote for the task and thereafter, all you have to do is discipline yourself to commit to the schedule that you created for yourself.

In creating structure in your day to day living, there is no place for energetic fluctuations as in every moment of the day, you know exactly what needs to be done to make your business a success. Though, if you are not clear on WHY you are doing what you are doing and/or, you do not understand the number game principle of sales, you will very quickly fall into the energetic ride even with having a structural schedule to follow.

This will be discussed in the next blog