Sales is about relationship building. Gone are the days of explaining, cajoling and persuading people to buy what you have to sell.
With competition greater than it’s ever been, salespeople are well served to pay attention to themselves, how they are feeling, what they need and how they interact in order to succeed.
This awareness will help them in their relationship building.
Self-Awareness Sales Techniques: Positively Impact Sales
Emotional Awareness
There are a couple of aspects of self-awareness to consider. The first is emotional awareness. Emotional awareness is understanding how you are feeling and how those feelings are translating into actions.
An example of this is how you feel as you prepare to cold call. If you are uncomfortable with the process, that discomfort can be relayed to the prospect on the other end of the phone.
Having an awareness of that discomfort helps you reset your emotional state so your performance isn’t impacted negatively.
Self-Assessment
This is where self-assessment comes in. It’s important to do a gut check before any interactions with prospects or clients.
How are you feeling? What can you do with those feelings?
Self-assessment also includes understanding your strengths and challenges. Dr. Phil says we can’t change what we don’t acknowledge.
Knowing where you are is the first step in adjusting and educating yourself.
Self-Confidence
Another part of self-awareness is self-confidence. Self-confidence is when you have a certainty about your worth and capabilities. You can see how awareness and assessment help you get to this state.
Having self-confidence in sales allows you to make those cold calls and go on those sales appointments. You are sure of what you know and how you conduct yourself, so you are comfortable with the prospect.
Self-confidence is critically important in sales for two reasons:
- First, those people who aren’t self-confident tend to overcompensate and appear aggressive and obnoxious. No one likes them or wants to do business with them.
- Second, the other danger is coming across as unsure. While you may know you are just feeling unsure, the prospect may read it as disbelief in the product or service.
Remember that they don’t know you yet. They don’t know that your self-confidence is in question. All they see is discomfort. Their translation of that can be very dangerous to your goals.
Self-Talk
Self-talk is a key element of self-awareness. Going through the process of self-talk before a sales call or before picking up the phone can mean the difference between winning or losing the sale. This is the place where you reconfirm your confidence—not only in yourself but in your product or service.
Doing some self-talk after an appointment can be equally valuable. In this case you walk yourself through the call and assess how you did, what you learned, and where you ended up.
This awareness before, during and after your interactions with prospects and clients will help you stay on top of your game.
Your success will increase because you will be present and engaged at every step.
Self-Awareness Photo via Shutterstock
Ti Roberts
Great tips, Diane. When I got to know myself and became comfortable with who I was a persona and business owner, I began to make a lot more sales. So this definitely is a necessary step that business owners should take. Thanks for sharing.
Ti