I made up The Soul of Selling method because I desperately wanted to sell a program I loved—and had no idea how to do it!
The only selling models I could find were either:
- Wicked—Get the stats, even if you have to break people’s arms and legs, or
- Wimpy—Love and “om” people, but don’t count on paying the rent
I wanted to guarantee exact sales numbers, and I also wanted to guarantee that everyone with whom I spoke was served and that selling fed my soul.
A tall order, but the 6 steps of The Soul of Selling did the trick! The next 6 posts will each cover one step.
Soul of Selling STEP #1: Put down your baggage, and fix what you can.
“I’ll never be able to sell!” my client Sally wailed. “I have all these fears and bad thoughts about it! I just have too much baggage.”
Is it true that you can’t sell if you have negative thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and fears about selling?
Of course not! We all have psychological baggage about selling. The people who enjoy and succeed at selling have simply learned to manage it.
WHAT COLOR IS YOUR SUITCASE?
Selling baggage comes in a variety of shapes and colors, but it usually involves evil thoughts and feelings about:
- Selling in general
- You as a seller
- Your product or service
- Potential buyers
MENTAL CHATTER GONE WILD!
Does any of this sound familiar?
- Selling is for “slick” people. I don’t want to slime anybody. Even if you win, you lose because you’ve sold your soul.
- I can’t stand to be humiliated, embarrassed, or rejected.
- There’s a secret to selling and I don’t know what it is.
- I’ve fooled people so far, but eventually they’ll see this is a fake.
- I’m sick of hearing “I don’t have the money” or “I don’t have the time.” Who do they think they are?
THE MENTAL CHATTER USER’S MANUAL
We all have mental chatter, and it’s never going away. The trick is to see it for what it is, objectify it, let it rant without believing it, and shift your attention elsewhere. But how?
- Identify the chatter. Write it down. Name it. Get it outside of you so that you can observe it. Don’t let it run around loose inside your mind, where it can get its hands on the controls. When you can see it, you don’t have to be it.
- Check to see if it’s true. Sometimes mental chatter gives you valid warnings. It might say, “Your records are a mess and if you sell more, they’ll be even worse.” Okay. Fix your records. Then pick up the phone and sell.
- Recognize it for what it is—mental chatter, not reality. Mental chatter specializes in interpretations and opinions, often driven by fear. It natters on and on about things that have little or no basis in fact, spinning around and around on its hamster wheel. That’s just what it does. It’s chatter, not reality.
- Let it be, without giving it much attention. Don’t try to beat mental chatter into submission. It’ll just go underground and fester. Bring it into the light of day and nod to it, but don’t let it dictate what you do or don’t do.
- Switch channels to something more interesting. Shift your attention to something positive—your results, the fun you will have getting them, even positive thoughts that have nothing to do with sales.
Step #1 gives you freedom. Freedom to have fun, to get big numbers, to entertain more productive and empowering thoughts.
Mastering mental chatter transforms not only the way you sell, but also the way you live your life.
What are your tricks for mastering mental chatter?
