Written for The Nova Scotia Business Journal
To work with customers, in sales or in customer service, you must have strong beliefs and confidence in: your products and services, in your company and market and most importantly, in yourself.
Starting with the big picture, a belief in your market should not depend on external factors, such as whether or not we have a multi-billion dollar shipbuilding contract. If your attitude is ‘bloom where you’re planted’, you believe that you can be highly successful in any market at any time. The negative attitude would be: you believe your success is dependent on outside economic forces and there is nothing you can do to influence that. James Irving of Irving Shipyards in his address to the CBU grads noted that, “You must focus on attitude. If you are focused on where you want to go and you have the right attitude, it will make an enormous difference.”
A strong belief in your products and services doesn’t always mean you are the best. It may be more important that you understand your product and services’ value proposition and can communicate that to others through professional communication skills. How prospects and customers value your offerings depends on their needs and perceptions, not on yours. Not every customer is looking for the lowest price offering; they may value quality much more. Not every customer is looking for the technology leader; they may value longevity in the marketplace more. Nor are they all searching for top quality; they may simply be looking for something that works.
Others may sense whether or not you believe in yourself, and by extension, whether or not you believe in what you’re doing. The belief in yourself is a large part of the customers’ feeling persuaded that you can help them or that they should buy your product or service. Building your self-confidence will build your business and your success levels.
How do we build our self-confidence? We get better at what we do. We should as well, recognize our own negative self-talk. We can be intentional about becoming more positive; read positive literature; surround ourselves with positive people; and take positive actions.
New competition will flock to town with a multi-billion dollar contract in town at stake. Facing that new competition with a strong attitude of confidence will put us in position to win.
©2011 Sandler Training Inc. (www.atlantic.sandler.com) is an international sales and management training/consulting firm. For a free copy of Why Salespeople Fail And What To Do About It, call the Sandler Training at 902-468-0787 or e-mail salescareers@sandler.com.
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