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A lot of people have or are still in the middle of their 2019 goals setting and planning. This will involve monthly, quarterly, yearly targets, figures, numbers and a lot of other Key Performance Indicators (KPI) from a quantitative perspective. That is well and good, we as sales professionals need to have hard numbers that we can work towards. Let’s be honest, sales is not rocket science. It really comes down to the consistent repetition of the right behaviors over and over again, in order to achieve the goal or desired result. So if it isn’t that complicated, and you have a proven activity model that can yield results for yourself or your team, why are you failing? Or maybe that’s not fair, maybe you hit 105% of your target, but why not 125%? What was the difference maker in you failing or falling short of the numbers you set out for yourself in 2018? You can blame the prospect for putting off the purchase for another quarter, or a change in management in your office, turnover of your sales employees, price increases, saturated market, competition, quality of product and so on and so on. These are all predictable things that happen to all sales people across all sales verticals…They are not excuses. The reason you fell short this year is between your ears. It has everything to do with your mindset.

Mental Health Check

If any of the above reasons were used to explain why you fell short this year then I know that mindset is the problem. Someone in a healthy state of mind for sales would not give credit to any excuse for falling short. They would simply own the fact that they had moments of weakness throughout the year, as we all do. That those few weeks in the year where their personal relationships at home negatively impacted their performance was their fault. They were not able to focus, remain resilient and on mission while dealing with the emotional stress that was taking place at home.

As a result, they did 10 less presentations than they normally would have in the 2nd Quarter, and fell short by 15% of their target…but hey, we will make it up next quarter don’t worry about it…right? Wrong. Or maybe, your dog had to be put down and this throws you for another emotional loop, that same week your target prospect has decided to sign with the competition. You end up doing zero prospecting that week, you just can’t find the motivation to do it. I sound unsympathetic, but what I am trying to help you recognize with these examples is that your performance can be directly correlated to the health of your mindset more so than any other variable. Your quantitative metrics are garbage if you are not in a state of mind to execute to the best of your ability.

I’m not saying taking time for yourself to regroup is unwarranted, what I am wanting you to focus on is the types of conversations you are having with yourself and the internal dialogue that is constantly running between your ears. Are you beating yourself up? Is it a negative conversation? It can be as simple as this…

Self-Sabotage

Your alarm goes off at 6am, you hit snooze about 4 times before getting out of bed. You start thinking to yourself, “I’m so lazy, maybe i’m not cut out for this.” You get up and start getting ready for the day. You are getting dressed and put your dress shirt on inside out and say “Ugh, I’m so stupid.”…you get into your car and start making your way to the office, you’re sitting in traffic, wondering to yourself if it’s all worth it. You get to the office, sit down and open up your laptop. The first email at the top of your inbox is that big sales deal you have been hoping to bring in for end of year. You click on it…They have decided to go with someone else…”S%*#& $*^@! I screwed up this sales process somewhere, i’m just not good enough. IDIOT!” And now you have to have a strong day and week and this is how you started off your Monday morning.

Don’t underestimate the power of words, be it spoken or internalized. In this example they called themselves lazy, stupid, idiot, questioned their value and deemed themselves not good enough. Seems like no big deal, but if you repeat these micro-negative words and behaviors daily, weekly, monthly, yearly every time something goes a little sideways…you are moving towards manifesting them into reality, and therefore actually failing in the long run.

Tips for Re-Programming Your Mind

Well, if you’re not yet convinced about the negative and depressing dialogue playing inside your head manifesting itself into your personal and professional life like a parasite of gloom, here is an exercise to measure just how much abuse you’re taking from yourself. This will require tuning into yourself with much more self awareness than you have in the past or ever. Grab a note book, journal or even have Amazon Alexa put it down in your notes on your smartphone. Write down the negative thought, feeling, and words that ran through your head throughout the entire day. Do this for one week. Don’t miss anything. Now review the results? Chances are on day one you surprised yourself just how many micro-negative shots you gave yourself to the chin. Don’t despair, now that you are conscious of your bad attitude you can right the ship and start steering your mindset, life, motivation and sales into a more positive direction.

You will now need to start each morning with one thing you are truly grateful for. Write it down on your bathroom mirror with a dry-erase marker. That’s right, we are getting gimmicky…you already do it in your stand up meetings with the scoreboard you and your sales colleagues use daily and take it seriously, so why not do something for yourself? One a day should not be too much of a challenge, if it is, stop reading this blog and book some time with a councilor or therapist, you may be in a more dire place that will require professional assistance. You will see and think about this one thing you are grateful for at the beginning of your day, and when you are brushing your teeth and getting ready for bed you will be reminded of this gratitude right before bed. Repeat this daily for a minimum of one week.

The Spoken Word (Affirmations)

In addition to graffiti tagging the heck out of your home with sticky notes and dry-erase marker, another strong re-programming method for bringing out a more positive attitude, and thus results in life, is the spoken word. Positive affirmations need to be spoken throughout the day, whether they happen due to a positive result at work like a big sale, promotion etc. Or you are literally just sitting in traffic bumper to bumper feeling that wailing voice of negativity creeping into your mind. Speaking words bring them to the forefront of the conscious mind. The more you hear it the more you will begin to believe it, the more you believe it, the more likely you are to actually go out and execute on that belief.

Start with the statement “I AM.” I am asserts that you are not lacking or deficient but have reached that which you aspire to be or achieve. Example: “I am the greatest sales person in the office/company/country/world!” OR “I am happy, smart and motivated!” Now don’t go about saying these things without putting the same amount of emotional conviction behind the words and their meaning. Clench your fists, stick your chest out and yell it in the privacy of your Prius/Mercedes/Mini-Van if you must! “I AM!” You will pump endorphins into your bloodstream and actually start to feel the words you are speaking. This has the potential to shift your entire mood and mindset for the day.

Man Shouting
The sales presentations you have ahead of you will be conducted with that much more confidence, vigor and positive energy and will lead to a better delivery. You owe it to yourself to delivery strongly every time you present, otherwise, you run the risk of going through the motions. Your prospect will sense the bad energy or lack of engagement, you will slack on the follow up meetings or forget to schedule them all together. Your attitude is everything!

I challenge you, I know some of these methods seem hokey or unorthodox, but are these conscious positive practices and dumber than the fact you called yourself and idiot 5 times today already and it isn’t even noon? Or that you’re constantly beating yourself up over negative past events, only draining you of the opportunities of today and even tomorrow? Eventually, as you get better at speaking into the positive and writing into the positive, you will be able to master the same emotional response of positive feelings and thinking…simply by thinking these things consciously and daily. In a few months you will see that you have flipped that nagging negative voice of yours into a booming positive force. So don’t sell yourself, your family or your customers short by bringing that negativity into the world. Master everything

in between your ears and you will see an increase in all areas of life. I’m not saying you won’t have bad days, but at least you will be aware of them and have coping strategies to bring you back to where you want and need to be…the positive.