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How To Overcome Self-Limiting Beliefs In Your Sales Team
by Jonathan Farrington

The organization with the ability to overcome the variety of mental models living in the minds of their workforce will be the organization that wins in the future. Emphasis has to be placed on creating an environment in which the ‘can do – will do’ mentality thrives and becomes the norm, success and achievement are expected and as a consequence are much more likely to happen. We call this fulfilled expectation.

Expect Beliefs To Change:

Throughout a person’s lifetime, beliefs change continually. Beliefs that they once thought to be immutable cease to be true. Take the example of Roger Bannister who, in 1957, became the first athlete to break the four-minute barrier for running a mile. Prior to Bannister’s achievement, most athletes considered a sub-four-minute mile impossible. But that same year, sixteen other athletes also ran a mile in less than four minutes. Did they become superhuman overnight? Or, more simply, did their beliefs change?

Our Colleagues Can Exert Positive Pressure:

Like those milers, salespeople have their own unique sets of beliefs, some of which limit their potential in sales. For instance, during a recession, the members of a sales force may all believe that strong sales are impossible. But if just one person increases their sales, what seemed an inevitable fact will suddenly appear more like a thin excuse for poor performance.

We Must Challenge Negative Beliefs:

Sales Captains who challenge negative beliefs with good questions can help create shifts in mindset. Take a look at these examples of negative beliefs and examples of questions that challenge them.

Statement:

“Our solutions are too expensive.”

Response:

“Compared with whom?”
“Compared to what?”
“How do you know?”

Statement:

“I’m hopeless at cold calling”

Response:

“According to whom?”
“What prevents you from being good at cold calling?”
“What would happen if you were good?”

Statement:

“My sales target is too high this month, I’ll never achieve it”

Response:

“What do you need to do so that you can?”

While challenging questions may not instantly create a belief change, over time, they can enable salespeople to shift their perceptions of their beliefs, recognizing that there are other possibilities and options available to them.

Developing Self Worth:

Organizations that recognize the importance of helping their salespeople develop a strong sense of self worth are many times more likely to produce high performers. Self worth is vital to everyone but especially to salespeople who hear “no” more often than they hear “yes, I’ll buy”. A salesperson’s self-esteem can sometimes take a hammering, but organizations that find ways to build their salespeople’s self-esteem reap an invaluable dividend. Self–worth translates into attitude, that small thing that makes such a big difference.

In Summary - The most successful salespeople take care of their attitude and they understand that:

Great Attitude = Great Results,
Average Attitude = Average Results,
Poor Attitude = Poor Results.

The second commonality with successful salespeople is that they expect to be successful and they want it badly enough that they bring about its happening i.e. fulfilled expectation.

About The Author:

Jonathan Farrington is a business coach, mentor, author and consultant, who has helped hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals around the world, achieve their full potential and consequently, optimum performance levels, in his capacity as Managing Partner of The jfa Group.

Prior to establishing his own consultancy, Jonathan earned his spurs in some of the most demanding and competitive market sectors i.e. I.T., Telecommunications and Finance. Outstanding achievement at an early stage in his career provided a ‘fast-track’ passage to several general management and director level appointments.

Challenging assignments took him from the Middle East and Africa to Europe and the USA, providing him with the opportunity to work with a number of the largest and most successful international corporations including: - IBM, Wang, Legal and General, Andersen Consulting, Litton Industries and The Bank of Tokyo.

In 1995, Jonathan formed jfa with the primary objective to deliver unique leadership and sales team development programmes to both the corporate and SME sectors.

Since then, he has authored in excess of three hundred skills development programmes, designed a range of unique and innovative process tools and written extensively on organizational and sales team development.

Contact Information:

Website: http://www.jonathanfarrington.com/index.htm
Email: jf@jonathanfarrington.com