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by Leigh Ashton
Has Sepp Blatter failed at FIFA — or just received some timely feedback? I’d love to ask him!
There’s no such thing as Failure… Just results! Some results you’ll like. Some results you don’t like. The key thing is to learn from each of your experiences.
The world is full of people who endured several setbacks before ultimately achieving success on a massive scale. Walt Disney was fired by his local newspaper because ‘he lacked imagination and had no good ideas’, before suffering severe setbacks in several businesses. Eventually he found a recipe that worked.
Even Henry Ford’s early business career floundered as he went broke five times trying to get a business model that worked.
What did Walt Disney, Henry Ford and thousands of others have in common?
They learned from their setbacks. They ultimately succeeded because they learned from each and every time things went wrong.
So ‘There’s no such thing as failure’ stands the test of time because it’s true. We can learn from all our experiences…good and bad. So — no failure, just a result you didn’t want, a mere stepping stone to success!
Action? If something goes fantastically well — bottle it! Learn what it was that contributed the most to that success. You need to identify the winning formulas and then replicate them.
What if something did not go well at all? Celebrate! You’ll learn more here than when you succeed. Think about the steps you took, the use of resources, the timing and every other detail that made up the result. What could you have done differently that could have made a difference?
Get feedback Where do you get your feedback from? Who tells you how you are doing? Do you plough a lone furrow, never really thinking about it? Or are you inundated with ‘feedback’ from well meaning but ultimately unhelpful would be business mentors?
Welcome feedback. Get it from wherever you can. Ask for it. Ask yourself and others ‘what could I have done better?’ When people give you feedback, take it graciously. Don’t try to justify your actions, just learn from these lovely people that are kind enough and care enough to be helping you this way.
It comes down to you though — what mechanisms have you got in place to take the learns from your successes? And how are you going to dig down and find out how to avoid replicating that poor meeting, that lost sale, that unsuccessful pitch?
Example Think about a meeting or interaction that didn’t go well.
Ask yourself the following questions:
* Was I clear on my direction and focus throughout? * How successful was I in opening the discussion? * Was the client at ease and able to talk freely? * Did I collect all the information needed? * Did I impart all relevant information? * Did I collect information in sufficient detail? * Did I provide clear understandable information to the client? * Did the discussion flow smoothly from one topic to another, without awkward pauses? * Was I courteous, tactful, etc? * How did I show I was listening? * Did I ask open-ended questions and expand where necessary? * Did I ask leading questions or answer my own questions? * Did I talk too much? * Did I listen? * How successful was I in closing the discussion? * Does the client know what is to happen next? * Did I achieve my outcome?
This check list can be used equally as effectively for up and coming meetings. For each question above ask ‘How can I…’ before using the same points above. Prior thinking along these lines will definitely set your unconscious mind in action to make sure you meet your imagined objectives.
So — build up your personal feedback and monitoring skills and make sure that in years to come the feedback you learn now is the springboard to massive future sales success.
You deserve it!
until next time.
Leigh
PS; Remember to grab your copy of “The 9 Biggest Sales Mistakes”
The 9 Biggest Sales Mistakes identifies those key mistakes that are stopping sales teams, companies and business owners fulfilling their sales potential. The report establishes how to identify these errors, indicates how they can be eliminated — and sets out how to avoid them.
For previous ‘Tricks of the Trade’ go here
About the author
Hi I’m Leigh Ashton of The Sales Consultancy
Whether you’re a small business or a leading brand, an area manager or a Chief Executive, whether you’re new to sales or an experienced sales professional. Even if you’re not in sales at all but want to understand it, you’ve come to the right place.
The World of Sales is changing.
Today’s conventional sales training doesn’t address the psychological barriers that get in their way.
My approach takes your sales team through a process that:
* Helps them identify their psychological barriers and gives them the tools to overcome them * Teaches them how the mind works so they can keep motivated and stay focused * Gives them the ability to identify the psychological patterns of their clients and prospects so they connect with them at a deeper level and close more sales
And at a higher level…
* It creates more success in other areas of their lives so they are happier generally…and happier sales people generate more sales
Wherever you are on your personal sales journey what’s the best course of action for YOU.
– Sales Training – that actually gets results – Leadership and Management – Personal Coaching and Mentoring – Sales Mentoring Programme – NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and how it can help you accelerate your success – Keynote Speaking