Most sales trainers would say that anyone who stays inside their comfort zone is lazy and unmotivated. I say that isn’t true. I believe the boundaries of our comfort zone are defined by our core values. Our core values give us strength and confidence. They define who we are and what we stand for.
That confidence makes it possible to be of service to others and to know that the service is valuable.
If our values don’t align with a company’s mission and values, our lack of belief, our concerns, and our fears will prevent us from doing what’s required to make sales for that company.
Instead, we may procrastinate to the point where our anxiety reaches its breaking point. And that’s the point when we will do what more than 60% of salespeople do – leave the sales industry within three years because they’re not making sales or finding satisfaction or achieving success.
Stephanie Oden, a life and business success strategist, had that experience: “I used to believe I had to get out of my comfort zone to be successful because that’s what I was taught. Funny thing is, I didn’t like doing it. Leaving my comfort zone puts me in a place of anxiety. I freeze up, and I feel like I’m living someone else’s core values. I give off an inauthentic energy. My prospects may not realize I’m not in congruency with my values. They can just feel that something isn’t working. And I don’t make the sale.”
Belief Leads to Sales
Most people sell from their mind instead of their heart. If we don’t believe in what we sell — or believe it can solve our prospect’s problems — then we’re not in alignment with what’s in our hearts. Every time we’re in a selling situation, we’re facing an ethical dilemma and that reduces our confidence that what we’re doing is right and good.
The difference in energy between someone who is confident and enthusiastic and someone who isn’t is obvious. No confidence equals no sales.
Russ DeVan is the creator of the Success by Design Un-Training System to help sales teams become consistently productive. He shares, “When we’re committed to the value of a product or service, it’s because we’re aligned with it and we feel congruent when promoting it. The courage of our commitment is felt as authenticity and passion. It’s that authenticity that creates greater value for our prospects. And when value exceeds the cost, that’s when our prospects say ‘yes’ to buying what we’re selling.”
Authentic passion is the emotionally compelling aspect. It must be present in our interactions with our prospects if we want them to feel how much we care about them — and feel that we’re truthful in saying our products and services can help solve their problems.
If you haven’t yet pinpointed your authentic passion, you can start to identify it using these questions:
- What have been the problems and challenges in your life? Make a list of them.
- Which of the problems and challenges do you no longer have? Make a list of those.
- When you were going through each of the problems and challenges, what advice or help did you wish someone would have given you? Add your answers next to each problem or challenge on your first list.
- On the second list, write what lesson you learned or what commitment you made to yourself as a result of overcoming each of those problems and challenges. This is your “authentic passion.”
- If you met someone today who was going through the same problem or challenging situation you overcame, what advice or help would you give them to help solve that problem?
- If you had access to the product or service you sell now, how would it have helped you (or how does it continue to help you) overcome your problems and challenges?
If your product or service would have helped you – or does now help you – to overcome your problems and challenges, you have an emotionally compelling reason why you sell that product or service. This means that you’re in alignment with what you’re selling! And you have an authentic personal story to share with others who have the same problem or challenge.
Actually, you now have more than a story. You have a purpose, a mission, and a satisfying reason for selling the product or service.
Perhaps you’ve become a fitness enthusiast as the result of some past situation. Start by making a list of what you’ve learned over the years about staying fit and well.
Next make a list of the types of products or services you could sell because you have this knowledge. You could sell nutritional supplements, athletic wear, fitness equipment, gym memberships, or even advertising on behalf of fitness-related publications or cable channels.
Your connection with your prospects for any of these products or services will be built on a solid foundation of authenticity and credibility because of your own passion for fitness.
Author
Get our newsletter and digital focus reports
Stay current on learning and development trends, best practices, research, new products and technologies, case studies and much more.
