Why was I feeling slightly nauseous and sweaty? Just a minute before we’d all been laughing and playing with makeup. 5 minutes ago this was fun. But now… Now I’d clearly made a huge mistake. What was I thinking? I have a college degree! I could be teaching in the school system! I was too good for this! I hate this. I’m CLEARLY not a salesman!
That my friends was my first experience in sales. I was 22 years old. Recent college grad. Brand new mom. Trying to find a way to be mom, get my husband finished 
with school and not have to be away from the baby full time. I joined a direct sales company. I was selling makeup. And my cousin in law invited me over to show her my stuff. We had a great time, until the moment I had to ask for the sale. I felt my confidence tank and doubt quickly filled the void. My cousin came over and put his arm around me.
“Amy, are you physically in pain? Because you look like you are.” He teased. “She wants to buy stuff. I don’t care if she buys stuff. Just breathe.”
I remember feeling pretty rich that day when I walked out with over $100 in sales. But it didn’t fix my confidence issues. I struggled with feeling confident in the sales process for my first 5 years as an entrepreneur. Sales always felt like the bad guy.
Here I am, wanting to help. There’s the customer wanting to use my product. And yet, sales and money are standing in the way blocking the transaction. Ugh, if only I didn’t have to sell. If only I could just show up and help people and the sales would follow? Isn’t that the promise every network marketing/direct sales company makes? Just share the product, they’re so great they’ll sell themselves?
Well friends. It’s a big fat lie. And the sooner you embrace the truth, the better. The truth is, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you’ve got to get really, really, rock star quality, good at sales. I’ve written many blog posts over the last 5 years on sales.
Today, I’m focusing on the confidence. All the skills in the world, can’t take the place of your belief in yourself and your ability to close a deal. If you’re anything like me the skills came faster than the confidence. I could follow a script. I could get the “how to” from a mentor and follow the instructions. But while sales skills are transferable from one salesperson to the next, confidence is different. Confidence is an internal game.
Here’s some things I did to help build that confidence.
- Your pre-sales ritual. You know how athletes hype themselves up before a game? They have music they listen to. Or visualizations they run through. They review plays. They chest bump each other. They run onto the field through a giant piece of paper for crying out loud and NONE of that has to do with their physical ability to play the game. All of it has to do with their mental preparation to win. If you believe you can win, you just might. If you believe you can’t, you never will. Develop a pre-sales ritual for your business. Find music that pumps you up and makes you feel unstoppable. Visualize yourself hitting the goal. Do a victory dance, BEFORE you even get on the phone.
- Listen to inspiring books around abundance, wealth creation, sales and money mindset. It takes some time to retrain the brain towards an entrepreneur mindset. And your training should start today! I listened to CD’s back in the day. Today, it’s all about audible. But never underestimate your ability to feel powerful because you are filling your brain with powerful words!
Heal your relationship with money. If you’ve been overspending, stop. If you’ve got that stack of bills you are avoiding looking at because you know you can’t pay them, open them and call the companies to work out payment arrangements. Any company would rather hear from you and get something, than just get nothing. Pay attention to those little negative money comments you make and stop saying the. “I never carry cash because it just disappears.” “Money doesn’t grow on trees!” Actually it does! It’s made from paper. And saying those types of statements will only serve to continue making you poor! And if you catch yourself criticizing someone with money stop in your tracks. It’s one of the fastest ways to repel money and keep you feeling like you’ll never be able to make enough and have enough.- Powerful sales affirmations. Here’s some of my favorites.
- I have a strong relationship with time and money. The Lord blesses me freely with both, because I use them to bless the lives of others.
- I love opening doors to new opportunities for clients through powerful and honest sales conversations.
- People want what I have to offer and are excited to say yes to me.
- I am getting better and better! Every time I share my product, my sales skills grow.
- Give yourself a little grace. I have a kindergartner right now. And he is so proud of himself every time he learns a new sight word. Or learns a new word that is spelled by one of his favorite letters. Every day he comes home with wins in his pocket. He doesn’t fret over the fact that he hasn’t mastered advanced math. He isn’t bothered that he can’t read as well as his older bros. It’s beautiful watching him celebrate his wins! Be like the kid! Celebrate every time you learn a new sales skill. Every time you ask and it’s a little easier than the last time. And know that it takes some time for everything to click into place. Be a proactive student. Don’t just sit back and hope that you magically learn to sell in your sleep. But don’t beat yourself up that you don’t have all the confidence and skills in the next 48 hours.
You were born for this! How do I know? Because you CHOSE it! And we are divinely capable beings that learn new things every day. YOU my friend CAN find your confidence in the sales process!