My first sales job was with Northwestern Mutual. I was in college and accepted a summer job selling life insurance. As I recall, I made three sales: One to my dad. One to a family friend. And one to me.
After a time, I quit. It was not a success, but also not a failure.
I remember the key takeaway from that experience: Hated selling life insurance. Loved selling. In that regard, I did not fail. It’s just that I was not yet successful. One year later, upon graduation, a took a job with UARCO and started selling business forms. That lead to on demand printing, then presenting, then coaching, then The Sales Vault.
I recently read about a high school that did away with “F” as a grade. They found the impact of the label to be devastating. Kids quit trying and many dropped out.
So, they made a change.
Struggling students’ report cards had a new designation instead of F’s: Not Yet. The result was hope. Kids no longer felt as though they hit a wall. Suddenly, kids started asking for extra help. The heavy weight of perceived failure had been lifted.
If you are new to sales and feeling like a failure, change your outlook. Think of yourself as not yet successful.
If you are pursuing a client but getting nowhere, sell from an alternative mindset: they’re just not yet a client.
Failure is only failure if you accept the outcome, agree with the label, and stop trying. See, you didn’t fail. You simply have yet to succeed.
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Bill Farquharson can help with your success. Join The Sales Vault at SalesVault.pro or call him at 781-934-7036 for more information.
