Most of us have a comfort zone in which we prefer to operate.
We may occasionally venture outside the boundary of that comfort zone, but typically for only brief periods. Acting in a manner different than what our comfort zone dictates can give rise to many uncomfortable feelings – fear, doubt, anxiety or guilt. There’s an emotional security of sorts to operating within a comfort zone, even if so doing yields less than optimum outcomes.
Interestingly, being stuck in our comfort zone is often characterized as a bad thing – a phenomenon that inhibits or limits our ability to grow, to advance or to improve performance. We are told that to be able to accomplish more – to be more successful – we must break out of or expand our comfort zone. But is that true?
Perhaps. It largely depends on the characteristics of your comfort zone. In the sales arena (and most other arenas, as well), growth is a function of one’s ability to recognize and accept the changing nature of the environment and the willingness to adapt by taking appropriate action. In other words, if our environment is changing and we don’t change with it, we’ll get left behind! In relation to those elements – recognition of change and willingness to adapt.
Sandler Rule: Selling is not for getting your needs met.
We all love to win. We all need strokes. We all need to feel OK. However, the professional salesperson shouldn’t try to get those needs met by a prospect. The prospect is the one who needs to feel like a winner in the selling situation.
The prospect should feel stroked after a sales call. And, perhaps most important, the prospect must feel OK when dealing with a salesperson.
Having high self-esteem and maintaining dignity is certainly critical for salespeople, but you shouldn’t look to build those elements at the cost of the prospect, and at the cost of a sale.
The prospect is not there to stroke you or to make you feel OK by being not OK. It’s up to you, the salesperson, to make the sales process win-win.
You might also be interested in:
