21. Why should you spend time reviewing your success?
A class of high school basketball players with similar skills were divided into three groups to conduct an experiment.
Group one was told not to practice shooting free throws for one month.
Group two was told to practice shooting free throws an hour a day for a month.
Group three was told to practice shooting free throws an hour a day for a month - but only in their imaginations.
At the end of the month, all three groups were tested. The group that didn't practice slipped slightly in its percentage of free throw successes. The group that practiced an hour a day stayed the same. But the third group, which practiced only in their minds, increased their success rate by two percentage points. How could actual practice, such as that done by the second group, fail to improve performances as much as practicing in the mind?
The explanation is that in your mind, you never miss a shot.
What if... you did the same thing the basket ball players did with the sales calls you have lined up for tomorrow?
What if... you took three minutes before turning in for the night and pictured each prospect welcoming you with open arms?
What if... you mentally reviewed everything you did RIGHT during the day rather than the mistakes you inevitably made?
Would it make a difference? You bet it would!
Several years ago I was asked to do some sales training for a company that sold food plans. The first thing I did was go through their complete sales training program to see what they were teaching. Everything seemed perfect except for one thing.
Everyone in the training class was told over and over again they should expect to expect to make two sales per week. Here's what I did. I had the next class of trainees told that they should expect to make 4 sales per week. All other aspects of the training were identical for both classes.
After their first month in the field, the second group had outsold the first group by a ratio of nearly two to one. Were they luckier? Was the second group getting all the breaks while the first group was having a run of bad luck?
No. The second class saw in their mind making four sales a week.
Corporations study their most profitable products. Profits permit companies to grow, in much the same way your successes challenge you to grow. The companies that grow the most have focused and improved on what they have done successfully. Did they do it by concentrating on their least profitable products or services? Do they constantly review their mistakes over and over again? No.
They increase their profits by concentrating on the products and services producing the most profit.
What does this mean to your selling success?
It means that your opportunities can be limitless, if you concentrate on your success rather than your mistakes. That doesn’t mean you stop making mistakes. It means you change your attitude toward mistakes.
Instead of saying “If only I had done it this way or said something different,” you view the mistake for what it is, something that didn’t work. The key is to become well acquainted with your successes. What you are looking for are the things you are doing right.
Successful companies spend HUGE amounts of money each year in advertising to proclaim the merits of their products and services. You hold the key to your own selling success, and it can only be found in your individual performance. These nuggets are like the successful products and services the corporations concentrate on to produce the most profit.
Let’s look at it from another perspective. Suppose you know two different people. One seems to fail at whatever they attempt. The other is very successful and does exceptionally well in your specific area of sales. Whose experience should you study to benefit most: the repeated failure, or the success? Whose secret would you rather know?
Successful sales people make plenty of mistakes; however they relive and build on their achievements and successes resulting in higher and higher expectations. You will never be free of mistakes nor can you become successful by simply trying to avoid mistakes. You will continue to have many successes and many failures.
If corporations can increase their profits by identifying their greatest “pay-off” products and services, you can increase your sales by reliving your successful sales calls.
At the end of every sales call you have a choice. You can be upset or discouraged by your mistakes or you can be excited and proud of the things you did right. Even if you did not make the sale you still did several things right. By reviewing your successes you strengthen them and give a better performance on your next call.
Try this: At you next sales meeting have 4 or 5 sales people describe their most successful sales call.
Comments:
I believe that the most important thing in life, be it your career or your personal relationships is to just keep trying. If you do something wrong. In either relationship the only thing you can do is to learn from it and try not to do that particular thing in the same way again. If you just don’t give up you’re bound to succeed sooner or later. The Only “bad mistake” is the one you don’t learn from
Brian Spraggins
I believe that every one should review their success by looking both at the good and the bad. Every one knows that you will not get every customer now no matter what you say or do. You’re going to have good days and bad days. You will have some customers knocking down the doors for your products and others that will turn you down no matter what you say or do. What seems like a good sale pitch to one customer might bomb with the next. Each prospect must be approached differently. Don’t let yourself get discouraged over a lost sale. Go on to the next one and do it over and over until you achieve your goals. Reviewing yourself daily will help build positive attitude and strengthen your performance for the next time.
Laura Arnett
I review success in steps: Getting in the door is a success. Seeing someone and being able to talk to them and ask them questions is a success. Success grows with each step you make. You may not always have success the first time around, but if at first you don’t succeed try, try again.
Kathie Luttrell
"Successful sales people make plenty of mistakes; however they relive and build on their achievements and successes resulting in higher and higher expectations."