Don't be afraid of
failure! The most successful salespeople are often those that
have failed the most. The more you fail, the more opportunities
you have to succeed.
Failure has become a stigma, both
within sales and culturally. No one wants to fail or be labeled
a “failure”. The result of that is that people either try to
reject their failure or avoid taking any risks at all. In sales,
this can be the end of a career. There are salespeople that
decided they couldn't deal with failing anymore and set up camp
with whatever level of success they had. Prospecting stops,
clients demand everything, and sales plateau. They may keep
showing up for work, but their career has gone as far as it's
ever going to.
If you are going to
be in sales, you better get used to the idea of failing. You are
going to get rejection and many deals won't close. It's your
outlook that determines how you react to these situations. Some
salespeople try to hide from their failure, they make excuses
until they don't feel responsible anymore, “The market is bad”,
“That buyer was an idiot”, “I didn't get the support I needed.” All of these things
are another way of saying, “I don't want to admit and learn from
my failure. I'd rather appear to have it all together than
actually go through the process of being the best."
Don't do
this. Admit to your failures and learn from them. Have the
courage to recognize your faults and you will develop much
faster into a great salesperson than all the people hiding from
their mistakes. Some salespeople go a step
further and avoid risks altogether. They do only what is
required of them to keep their job. They'll maintain clients and
avoid prospecting. They pad their numbers and hide behind “full
pipelines”. They'll bury themselves in paperwork and proposals,
whatever is necessary to detach themselves from failing.
If you fall into this trap, know
one thing: you have decided to stop developing and improving
yourself. The only way to grow is by trying new things and
taking risks. Once you retreat into your shell, you destroy any
possibility of growing. Embrace your failure. It will
help you improve as a salesperson and ultimately will garner
respect. Though there is a stigma to being a “failure”, there is
also a stigma to people that persevere through failures and
become great successes. Failure is simply a step toward success.
© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
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