A well respected financial journal recently published the results of a national survey they conducted in America. The survey was conducted using various control groups in different parts of the country from all walks of life. A total 1611 people, all between the ages of 21 and 54 participated. While I was reading the article there was one particular question that grabbed my attention “What is your greatest fear?” I expected to see responses like Spiders, Snakes, Heights, Airplanes, Clowns etc. but I was truly shocked at what I found.
An amazing 52% of those surveyed answered “Public Speaking!” Wow . . 52% More people are afraid of public speaking than DEATH (which only got 22% of the responses. Unbelievable!
I read on to discover that the fear of public speaking (in most people) is primarily due to the fear of rejection or failure. This fear typically causes nervousness that prevents the speaker from focusing or properly verbalizing his/her thoughts. This is commonly referred to as “Butterflies in the stomach.” I believe this is why most people can’t “Sell.” Indeed, sales is not for everyone and anyone that has ever done any kind of selling will admit they were nervous the first couple of of times they approached a prospect.
In reality selling is not a talent or gift, it a is a learned skill. Like any other learned skill it has to be studied, observed and practiced before it can be perfected. And like any other skill it also needs to be cultivated and developed in order to remain effective. People often worry about the quality of their “sales pitch” or “script” and rightfully so, after all you do have to be able to explain your product. But, what most people don’t realize is that selling is 90% mental and only 10% physical. This means that even the perfect “pitch” only makes up 10% of your presentation. The other 90% is made up of ATTITUDE! A positive mental attitude is not a skill, it is more like a muscle the more you work on it the more it will grow. Having a positive attitude emanates an ora of trust. Prospects pick up on this and sense that the speaker is being genuine. Once that connection is made, the product is irrelevant, the prospect will buy whatever you’re selling because they trust you.
The most common thing I find in the sales professionals I train is not that they don’t have a positive attitude but rather that they have a hard time maintaining it! When a prospect declines your offer you can’t take it personal. Sales is a numbers game and you will hear many more “NO’s” than “YES’s” As a matter of fact you should train yourself to eliminate the “No’s” rather than find the “Yes’s” If it takes you 10 “No’s” to arrive at your $500 “yes”, each of those “No’s” were worth $50 A successful salesperson sets out each day to eliminate their “No’s” This approach slowly builds the attitude muscle and conquers the fear of rejection.
To your success,
Omar
