Freedom and Opportunities - High Impact Systems

Techniques. Updates. Advice.

Cherish your freedom…and all the opportunities it presents

By Jill Van Dierendonck, JMV Communications

The story of our country’s founding and freedom began more than two centuries ago, but new chapters are added each and every day. We read about men, women and children who sacrificed all they were and all they had to come to America. We hear about people who bravely fight here and abroad for the unequaled freedoms we enjoy. We meet people who remind us of how blessed we are to live and work in America.

Quite likely, no other country in the world gives its citizens so much freedom – or the opportunities that come with that freedom. Our choice of where to live, and what to drive. The freedom to speak out, and vote our conscience. Our choice of schools. The freedom to protest and champion, and the freedom to work hard and accumulate wealth. Our choice of belief, and profession.

With red, white, and blue bunting adorning our porches this month, and picnics and fireworks planned, it’s a good time to reflect on our collective and individual freedoms…and to capitalize on all the opportunities around every corner.

“The other day I was reading some passages Benjamin Franklin wrote in the late 1700s,” Charlotte Landram, a highly successful leader of sales organizations, professional coach, and founder of High Impact Training & Coaching Systems in Phoenix, explains. “He was offering some advice to Europeans who were considering immigrating to America. The majority of his paper, titled Information to Those Who Would Remove to America, was filled with some rather stark descriptions of how hard people worked in the new country, and how few found living here in the post-Revolution days easy.

“One paragraph really struck a chord with me,” Landram continues. “Franklin was describing what was expected of residents. In part, the passage reads: ‘…of America, where people do not enquire concerning a stranger, What is he?but What can he do?If he has any useful art, he is welcome; and if he exercises it and behaves well, he will be respected by all that know him.’

“Of course, Franklin was right,” Landram adds. “We are judged on what we do – and maybe in no profession more so than sales. We’re so fortunate to have our overarching freedom – and the choices inherent in the sales process. As sales professionals we have such huge opportunities to demonstrate what we can do – the value we can bring to client/customer relationships. Yet, nearly every day I see very talented individuals fall victim to mindsets that work completely at odds with freedom…and I have to wonder: With all we have, why would we think/act this way?”

Here are four mindsets Landram says successful sales professionals cannot adopt – think of the list as Information to Those Who Would be Successful in Sales – and coaching tips from Landram on how to overcome them if you ever feel yourself slipping.

A poverty mindset

Wherever a poverty mindset is found – in a classroom, in a depressed neighborhood, around a family dinner table, or in a struggling business – frustration and despair will also appear. When an individual displays a poverty mindset, she will be unproductive and largely ineffective.

When a sales professional holds a poverty mindset, Landram says, he likely has a deep-rooted sense of inferiority. Or, he feels inadequate when comparing his results with co-workers or competitors.

How do you know if you’re holding on to a poverty mindset? Ask yourself these questions:

Do you avoid prospecting for new clients?
Do you routinely duck questions from your sales manager, fearing she knows you’re not performing at peak levels?
Are you reluctant to make calls…or return calls?
Do you believe your colleagues (or your competitors) are more successful because they have better contacts? A richer territory? More natural talent?
If you’re told ‘no’ early…do you give up?
Do you often try to justify yourself (or blame others) when you fail to make a sale?

Overcoming a poverty mindset in sales is absolutely doable, according to Landram.

“It’s critical to devote time to two things,” she says. “The first is perfecting your sales skills. You have to have the discipline to prospect for clients. You have to learn how to ask the right questions, and listen for the answers that will help you. You have to perfect your call techniques, your presentations, and your follow-up plan.

“You also have to become a master of your products or services,” Landram says.

“If you devote energy to these two things, I promise your perceived internal value will rise, you’ll feel better about yourself, you’ll exude more confidence, and you’ll make more sales,” Landram says. “Once you understand you have something to deliver, something to offer a potential customer, something that becomes a solution to a problem for a client, you’ll develop a mindset of abundance, rather than poverty – and you’ll stretch to deliver and offer even more.

“The other important point I’d make here is that this poverty/abundance mindset is something most salespeople have to work on continually,” Landram says. “It’s a constant process to keep that little (but often loud) negative voice out of our heads.”

A hoarding mindset

If you’re a hoarder, you’re probably not much fun to work with.

“It’s really about that simple,” Landram says. “If you display a hoarding mentality with your team and clients, people’s respect for you will quickly dwindle and your reputation will suffer immensely.”

How do you know if you have a hoarding mindset that is affecting your relationships and business? Ask yourself these questions:

Do you ever try to get credit for others’ work?
Do you spend time trying to bend the rules…or work outside the boundaries your company has established?
Do you take credit for others’ sales or accomplishments?
Do you have information that would be helpful to your co-workers…but you choose to hold on to it yourself?

“If you’re often or always trying to get what isn’t due you, you’re working against some very basic, universal principles,” Landram says. If you do need to dig yourself out of this very destructive mindset, here are Landram’s three best suggestions:

Accept and embrace the rule that no one succeeds alone. You work as a team, and you succeed as a team.
Recognize there’s plenty of business for you (and plenty of recognition) if you’re professional, continue to develop and improve your skills, and work for true, deserved results.
Understand the rules – and allow them to work for you rather than against you. Taking a short cut sets you on the path to cutting your success short. Taking a lot of short cuts makes this happen very quickly.

A victim mindset

Few people can muster any empathy for the victim who isn’t one. Nor should they, especially in a work setting or business environment.

“Someone demonstrating the victim mindset will use a lot of ‘if/then’ statements,” Landram explains. “’If only I had an assistant to do these reports, then I could devote more time to my sales team.’ ‘If we had a larger budget to work with, we could win more contracts.’

“Or, you might overhear the victim using a victim’s voice,” Landram says. “’It’s not my fault my orders are down; the company keeps changing the rules, and I have difficult customers! It’s just too hard…’

“Someone working with a victim mindset also holds the all-too-common belief: ‘If everyone else would just do their job, everything would be fine…’” Landram adds.

Overcoming a victim mindset involves two steps, according to Landram: 1) Accept the fact that not everything is perfect; and 2) Get out of your ‘head’ and into action.

“Everything is not perfect – even for the best, brightest and most successful sales professionals,” Landram says. “Sometimes the best salespeople actually have the worst territories and the most challenging customers; they’ve just accepted a hand they’ve been dealt, and worked hard at overcoming the odds. And, not every company or business is perfect,” Landram adds. “Learn to accept your organization’s shortcomings, and work on solving the problems you can.

“For the second step, my best advice is to spend time at work – not complaining about work,” Landram counsels. “The more time a salesperson spends in an appropriate action mode, the less time you’ll have to fall into a victim mindset.”

An ego mindset

“Often, the people most guilty of self-centeredness don’t recognize it when they look in the mirror,” Landram notes. “However, everyone they work with and every prospect they’ve contacted can tell them.”

If you’re open to taking a hard look in the mirror, ask yourself these questions:

When you’re making a sales call, is your primary driver making a sale…or helping your customer?
Are you in sales because 1) You can make good money? 2) You enjoy the recognition and all those ‘Salesperson of the Month’ awards? 3) You love the power?
Are you in the initial, or launch, mode of your sales career (when it’s naturally “all about you” because you’re learning all about your business and what you need to do to sell effectively)?

“To overcome self-centeredness in your sales career and remove the ego equation from your success you have to accept the fact that sales should never be about you,” Landram says. “Sales is a servant role. Embrace this fact, or get out.”

“For new salespeople my advice is to adopt a long-term view as soon as you can,” Landram adds. “You need to learn core lessons and successful sales strategies. You also need to learn discipline to build success for the long term. Once you learn not only how to survive in this business, but to thrive,” Landram adds, “it’s much easier to fine-tune your focus on your clients.”

This month celebrate all your freedoms – and try to capitalize on new opportunities. Sing our national anthem at a baseball game on the 4th. Read a story about the Revolutionary War to your kids before bed some night. Write a note of thanks to someone serving overseas. Voice an opinion or two to an elected official. And, above all, have a mind to care, do good things for the people around you, and be good at all you do.

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