What does failure mean to you?

Is it not reaching sales goals?  Is your paycheck not meeting your expectations?  Or maybe you’re not achieving the recognition you feel you deserve. However you define failure in your sales career, you can take steps to reverse that sinking feeling. 

But first, engage in some honest self-evaluation: 

• Where in the sales process are you having the greatest difficulty?
• How’s your attitude?
• What obstacles to closing more deals have you encountered?
• Have you defined your goals?
• How about your time management and organization skills – are they serving you adequately? 

It all boils down to attitude and accountability. Numerous study-based statistics back up this statement. But we’re talking about soft skills here. So let’s rely on anecdotal evidence and observations to illustrate the truth in finding success by maintaining a positive attitude, taking responsibility for your personal and professional growth and making yourself accountable for your own success. 

Attitude

Take a look around you at the sales people who are most successful. They might be new to a sales career or they may be seasoned professionals, but they share some common characteristics. Let’s talk first about positive attitude. 

We’ve all heard of the “glass half full, half empty” test for determining an individual’s attitudinal predisposition. But there are other valid indications of how we see and react to the world around us. 

Think about the difference in attitude between people who see the weather as “partly sunny” versus “partly cloudy;” or the difference between salespeople who obsess about every news report that decries the state of the economy versus those who see opportunity around every corner. What about people who find the silver lining in every cloud as opposed to those who get discouraged at the first sign of a cloud – which of those people would you expect to be more successful? It makes complete sense that people enjoy being around and conducting business with those who have a bright disposition, are upbeat, display a good sense of humor and who have only good things to say about people they know and with whom they interact. 

Back to statistics: negative attitude accounts for 50% of the reasons salespeople fail. With so much at stake it certainly makes sense to practice the discipline necessary to keep our attitudes positive. There are numerous sources of inspirational and instructional publications (audio, video and in print) and courses by well-known authors and presenters such as Ken Blanchard and Wayne Dyer. 

Sales consultants and trainers also often offer one-on-one coaching geared toward making improvements in attitude and sales skills. The information and exercises delivered by these experts in coaching sessions and seminars will help you realize that you alone have the power to make choices – choosing to emphasize how you can, not why you can’t; reject negative influences in favor of positive thinking and planning; invest in your own future. Our thoughts dictate who we are and what we can become. Practice having positive thoughts. 

Personal and professional growth

Thirty-five percent of salespeople fail because they lack product, communication and sales skills. Although manufacturers and employers often provide product training, it remains the responsibility of sales professionals to make sure they’re getting all the training they need in all three of these skill areas. This may require pursuing additional training on their own. Further, training and education should be viewed as an ongoing process through which new skills can be learned or existing skills reinforced. 

Product knowledge is a self-evident area for training. But it’s clear that good communication skills are critical to the success of any sales professional. Salespeople need to learn how to: 

·        Develop leads and connections through networking.

·        Speak (or remain quiet) at the appropriate times.

·        Effectively present to individuals and committees.

·        Ask probing questions without putting the prospect or customer under pressure.

·        Write sales letters that succeed in calling the reader to action.

·        Turn apparent small talk into a network of contacts that leads to referrals.

·        Write proposals that communicate the value in accepting your solution. 

Some of us have natural abilities in one or more of these areas, but all sales professionals know that to meet new challenges they need to constantly learn new skills and update and reinforce their existing skills. 

How?  Read. Listen to instructional CDs and view video training programs. Take a class. Get some coaching. Attend off-line and on-line seminars, workshops and teleclasses. Practice, practice, practice. 

Let’s not forget about sales training. 

Resources and opportunities for improving your skills abound. They can be found in settings as diverse as: 

• Manufacturers’ product training;
• Industry publications, seminars, trade shows and conventions;
• Sales training provided by manufacturers, employers, sales training books and other printed publications, online sources, sales consultants and trainers;
• Community colleges, career schools;
• Chambers of Commerce; business networking organizations;
• SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives); and
• Small Business Development Centers. 

The key is to take responsibility for getting all the training you need on an ongoing basis. Nobody knows better than you do the type and intensity of training you need. Lack of sufficient skills will hold you back. 

The bottom line? Invest in your future. Your investment will pay huge dividends.