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by Shaillender Mittal
In a sales career, it is of the utmost importance to be extremely confident in your approach (body language) and your words (conviction). Most of the self confidence we “feel” we have, or we “know” we have, gets erased by the harsh 21st century environment we live in.
Look at any news paper or television channel today. Look around you. You will notice the world is full of negativity unless you are practicing ancient arts or are following a “guru”, believing yourself to be living in an artificial life. The good thing is our competition also lives in the same world, in the same environment and faces the same negativity! So do our customers, an important aspect to always remember. Drawing a little laughter, light talk and some light and crisp likeness to a real living world eases the tension of relationships and tends to bring a positive thrust.
While the above is true for almost all salespeople, and I am not referring to sales teachers, gurus and coaches; it is also true that we human beings can easily change the state of our minds, sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously.
In my 24 year sales career, spanning every possible product or service in the IT field, I have noticed one thing that keeps me self driven – the conviction and confidence that I show. It is actually very simple to build an energy sphere around you, that remains with you always. When others interact with you, even the environment, they interact with the energy sphere, thus bringing only good thoughts to your mind. You see the world through that energy sphere, and suddenly all the negative news, the sad people, the pretend-to-be-happy smiles that you see around you everyday, cease! They are instead now looking to you as something that can take help from you.
The energy sphere is simple. As salespersons, you need to dare to be different, and you need to SHOW it consciously. For example, in my workplace, no-one plays golf. I, being a keen golfer, distinguish myself, apart from many other things, as an extremely passionate golfer to my colleagues and my customers.
I remember the day, when I met the Deputy Managing Director of a large public sector bank for the first time, prospecting for my products or services. The meeting was important and we had to make a mark for ourselves. My colleagues were dressed up smartly, carrying all types of literature and the meeting started with a serious talk – what are the goals that the bank has for its regional businesses this year? Somewhere in the middle of the meeting, I asked the customer, a very senior employee of the bank, and a DMD – “Tell me, do you play golf?” Everyone on my team was startled! The DMD immediately loosened up and started to talk about golf, even though he did not play! He made me write down a few names and numbers of senior officials from the bank who he knew played. From then on, our relationship was made. We spent the next few weeks meeting him and his team, and landed up very soon with a new project.
The point here is that even our customers are humans. They do not live on Mars. Talk to them in a language humans understand…with emotions, lightheartedness and try easing their worries (which they have anyways!).
In the energy sphere here, I have created a positive and confident image for myself. To have that with me everyday, then reminds me to be better everyday, to keep up with my energy sphere. Suddenly, I notice that the whole world approaches me as if I have tons of confidence and tons of knowledge.
Conviction is important in the energy sphere so that whatever you say, you say it with extreme confidence and conviction. Humans generally do not defy confidence and conviction. But a word of caution here. You must be supremely confidence of your conviction abilities. Should you encounter another confident, or extremely confident person, you can be taken down in a second. Your conviction and confidence should be higher than anyone you are meeting.
To build that highest level of confidence and conviction, do the basic things. Stand in front of the mirror and feel happy about what you see. Create a powerful energy sphere consisting of three to four things you do differently, Be different, don’t be afraid of being different. You will not get hurt and at least you stand to gain something you never even had a chance on!
About the author