There are times when the goal seems so far that to attempt to see to the end of it. You’re not even in the tunnel yet. There are times when you make all the progress and exceed your expectations only to falter over a mistake along the way. There are times when you have zero control over what’s happening in world around you as a whole (COVID-19, anyone?).
What all of these experiences have in common is what will get you through: all are times when you need to have a long-term sales mindset. To borrow from one of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective people, successful thinkers embrace habit two: start with the end in mind.
With so many obstacles, how do you get there? These are a few steps that will help guide you along the way.
Step One: Set the end goal
Whether you’re a sales rep navigating what it’s like to work from home for the first time or a small business looking to set up a B2B fast, the most important first step is to know your goals and work backward from there.
Once your largest goal is set, establish a road map to achieve it with various stops (or mini goals) along the way. This will not only keep you motivated, but it will keep you focused on the exact steps you need to take on the road to success.
Step Two: Identify your “Why”
Identify might not even be a powerful enough word on this topic. Your why is what will keep you going during all the tough times and challenges you encounter along the way. You should do more than identify it – you should embrace it as the driving force behind every decision you make.
There will inevitably be curves, hurdles, and full on crashes along the way, but knowing why you’re powering through them will fuel you in more psychologically powerful ways than you think.
Step Three: Put your customers first
Once you’ve got the first two steps, which focus mostly on you, figured out, it’s time to completely shift gears. Whether you’re selling a product, service, or experience, it is most important to serve your clients and customers first.
If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a sales interaction and felt like more of a number or dollar sign than a human being with real feelings, you know exactly what NOT to do. It helps to believe in what you’re selling and see it as the best possible solution to a problem your client is experiencing.
Step Four: Shut your mouth
No, seriously. Shut it. Take a trick from a world-renowned speaker, author, and thought leader from FranklinCovey, Scott Miller, who tells anyone who will listen just this.
When you’re tempted to interrupt someone, instead count to 10. Put your tongue behind the top part of your upper teeth and don’t only hear what the person is saying – listen to it.
Scientifically, the person will most likely conclude their thought during that amount of time anyway, and you are doing right by them by putting their best interests at heart.
Step Five: Grow a thick skin
And then grown another one on top of that one.
Understanding that failure will happen is one of the most important ways to develop a long-term sales mindset. Putting that failure into action for you is where it gets fun – instead of taking it as a failure, those who think long-term see opportunity in the setbacks.
They explore the ways the issue is happening for them, and what they can learn from it, instead of focusing on the fact that it happened at all.
Step Six: Explore every angle along the way
Having the right set of tools to reach for at the drop of a hat will help ensure that you stay on course in the short- and long-term. As technology continues to evolve to meet the rapidly changing needs of the workforce, the resources available to keep you on track are invaluable.
At Aleran, we make selling simple by offering solutions for easy setup, management, customization, and integration using our suite of sales tools.
Work from anywhere with real-time order and delivery tracking, reporting dashboards, and custom web shop and product catalogue creation products, like those offered at Aleran Software.
Lighten the load with easy-to-use, cloud-based sales management platforms you can access 24/7. Give a try for free with our brand new trial option! And in the meantime, understand that times happen that make the path difficult to navigate. But having the right long-term sales mindset can have an incredible impact on the journey, as well as help get you to the end of the tunnel and beyond.
For more information, to request a demo or free trial, call (888) 388-2408 or visit us online.
