Best Practice #4: Regularly uses positive self talk to keep himself motivated.

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By Dave Kahle

Most time studies of field salespeople reveal that the typical salesperson only spends 25 to 30 percent of his/her work week actually talking with customers and prospects.  Much of the remainder of that time is spent alone.  That isolation can be devastating if the time is spent thinking negative and self-deprecating thoughts. 

The tendency to fill our down time with negative thoughts is a problem that few salespeople will publicly acknowledge.  It is a natural tendency in a job where rejection is a common experience.  Combine that routine rejection with lots of alone-time to think about it, and you have a recipe for depression and dejection. 

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It is not news to anyone that a depressed and dejected salesperson is not motivated to make the next sales call or to go the extra step.  If you are depressed, your performance will suffer.

Let’s examine the sequence of events.  Given a lot of alone-time to think, rejection often prompts negative thoughts.  Negative thoughts produce depressed and negative emotions.  Negative emotions lead to far less positive behavior.  The lack of positive behavior leads to poor performance.  And what does poor performance lead to?  Negative thoughts.

That is a cycle that can keep a salesperson under-performing for years.

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You can break that cycle by training yourself to create the habit of positive self-talk.  Positive self talk is the routine expression of verbal and silent thoughts that are designed to build a positive attitude.  Sales masters engage in managing their thoughts by a number of specific practices.

They collect positive thoughts and sayings from sources around them.  They listen to positive thoughts while they drive.  They subscribe to services which deliver positive ideas to them.  They repeat, silently in their minds, as well as out loud, positive thoughts, ideas and affirmations.

These thoughts then become embedded in their minds, gradually pushing out the negative ideas which are so easily accumulated.

The net result of this mental work?  More energy and more motivation.  In spite of a personal rejection, they have the motivation to make that next call and to go the extra step. 

Positive thoughts eventually lead to positive actions, which eventually lead to greater performance.

The best salespeople understand that.  They also know that it is their personal responsibility to keep themselves motivated and thinking positively.  That leads them to the use of positive self-talk as a practice proven to help fight off negative thoughts and result in focused effective sales behavior.

That’s why this is a best practice of the best salespeople.

If you’d like to study this best practice more thoroughly, read  How to Excel at Distributor Sales, chapter 12 and 13.