After a few weeks in the shop learning about print (read: drinking from a fire hose), you step off the curb, armed with business cards and blind optimism and enter the world of Sales.
As someone who has worked with newbies, coached them, and been where you are, here are three pieces of advice:
Don’t listen to The Doubter—Sales is probably the hardest thing you’ve ever done. Unless you are extraordinarily lucky and land, a job early, you are likely to feel incredibly discouraged day after day. Soon, a voice will whisper from within you, telling you why no one will buy from you, how you are going to be fired soon, and filling you with negative thoughts which can prove to be self-destructive if you let them in. The reason why The Doubter exists comes down to your definition of, “Doing my job.” No one expects instant success. Your job is to make sales calls, and plenty of them. The best thing you can do is the report into your boss and let him/her know how hard you are trying. Do enough of the right things, and success will follow. That’s where you need to focus your attention.
Make new mistakes—You are expected to make mistakes. The worst thing you can do is make the same ones day after day. That will be infuriating to those around you. If you screw up, quickly fix it and then learn what happened so you can be better next time. Note: There is no finish line to this process.
Understand the imposter syndrome—The imposter syndrome occurs when you believe you don’t belong. That is, you are certain that any day now someone’s gonna walk in and ask, “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be in sales!” What you don’t know is, 70% of us have felt this exact same thing. That means almost everyone has gone through this. They are not better than you. They might have more experience, but they have worked through this feeling, and so can you. I believe the saying is, “Fake it until you make it.”
One last thought: If you try your absolute hardest at sales (or anything, really) and it doesn’t work out, you might have failed but you are not a failure. The only time you should feel badly about coming up short as a sales rep is when you don’t give it your all.
As Don Miguel Ruiz would tell you (in his brilliant book, The Four Agreements), always do your best!
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New solutions added to The Sales Vault this week:
• Sales Apps You Should Know About
• How to Attain New Business
Learn more at SalesVault.pro or call Bill Farquharson at 781-934-7036.
