3 Steps to Achieving Peak Sales Performance

Why are the most talented salespeople often underachievers? What obstacles prevent them from achieving success? How do the less-talented salespeople wind up being overachievers with their sales efforts compared to their other colleagues? Do certain mental skills help someone to high sales performance levels? What separates the high achievers from the low achievers in sales?

Conventional training programs for salespeople overlook the major hurdles in attaining success. They concentrate completely on effective sales and closing methods. Sales talent, using the right methods, or lack of motivation are not the major hurdles for salespeople to overcome to realize success. The major obstacles are similar to those champion sports competitors, namely mental, emotional and internal barriers that salespeople struggle with each business day.

The foundation of a salesperson's belief system is self-talk and this system helps form your feelings about the level of success you have obtained with your efforts in sales performance. Inner thoughts can either propel you to failure or lead you to success. Many times, people defeat their efforts with negative thoughts and this prevents them from realizing success.

You could call it accidental self-sabotage. Phrases such as "It is a slow economy for sales right now.", or "It will be a miracle if I close half as many sales as I did last year." are just two examples of self-defeating self-talk phrases. Thoughts such as these are like trying to run up an icy hill while wearing slick shoes. You will take one step up and slide down five! Self-defeating thoughts lead you to failure.

All thoughts help set up your belief system that in turn decides your behaviors, feelings and actions. Consequently, negative thinking leads you to putting off sales efforts and this results in poor sales performance.

We are sharing three effective components of a champion's mindset in the following information. Use these components in the right manner and your sales record will soar to new heights!

Step 1. Write down negative thoughts that creep into your mind that affect your sale results. You will soon realize a pattern in these thoughts. At this point, think rationally to counteract each negative thought and replace it with a positive thought. Replace "The rough economy is scaring customers off from buying." with "I will not close the sale with every customer.

It is the numbers that count. I am an intelligent, innovative salesperson and I can discover new customers and markets for all my products in spite of the rough economy. I will stay open for these new opportunities that I know will appear for me." to realize a higher level of sales performance.

Turn on your mind's power so you can jump over every mental hurdle to attain championship status. The subconscious mind is under your control and it will not pass judgment on your failures or your successes. The choice of thoughts to feed your subconscious mind is all yours. As a result, you need to have confidence in how valuable the products are that you are promoting and your own sales abilities. Avoid believing that you are lacking the necessary abilities or that your products do not offer value to prospective buyers.

Many times, salespeople concentrate too much on their weaknesses and not enough on their successes. You also should concentrate on your numerous achievements instead of the times you fail. You can program your inner being to concentrate on your strong points and this will help propel you to success with your sales performance.

Athletes are proficient at this and this is why they can compete on a championship level. You can sell at a championship level when you concentrate on your strengths! Remember at all times your communication skills, product knowledge and belief that the customer will benefit from your product will compensate for any weaknesses that you may feel you have within yourself.

Step 2. Present a positive demeanor to potential customers on top of other individuals that you meet on a daily basis. Praise your own performance using positive, self-talk phrases as in "I assist others in achieving their goals." and "I offer products of value to all customers." to reach a high level of sales success.

Concentrate on your sales achievements and mentally praise your efforts. Learn from past mistakes, but then just move forward with the next sale to increase your sales performance. Keep a list of your successes in another journal. Record the date and times when you were on your game big time and are proud of what you accomplished in these moments. List at least one accomplishment each day. Read over this list on a regular basis, this is especially useful on problem days.

Fill your thoughts with optimistic goals and opportunities. Thoughts such as these are an effective mental tool that will lead you to a championship sales results.

Research performed with one million+ subjects over a 30-year period proved that the most powerful influence on sales performance is developing optimistic expectations. Motivation and ability are not always sufficient to propel one to consistent results in a sales career.

Optimistic or pessimistic expectations determine the outcome of your efforts, in spite of your motivation or skill level. Studies also prove that the participants who had an optimistic attitude enjoy healthier lives and live longer, so you can benefit from a positive attitude in all areas of your life.

You need to believe you can succeed even with any of the hurdles to jump, challenges to conquer and down days to overcome that often come with a career in sales. Keep believing that you can triumph even when you need to deal with antagonism, rejection and resistance.

The way you handle yourself in defeat with your daily sales efforts has a dramatic influence on the level of success you will attain with your sales performance. Retrain your thinking so you consider setbacks only a minor inconvenience. You can utilize your knowledge to discover the right way to overcome the setbacks, which will lead you to higher success rates.

Step 3. You can learn to set optimistic goals and expectations. Anyone can learn how to overcome negative thinking even hardcore pessimists can re-train their thinking patterns. Let's re-examine #1 on this list. Discover the best way to an optimistic outlook through an analysis of your own pessimistic or negative thought patterns.

Now, practice changing negative patterns into positive ones. A professional psychologist can help you with cognitive training or you can attend special seminars on optimism. Training such as this will work effectively not only for your sales performance, but your entire life!

Gregg Swanson is a human potential and peak performance coach and owns Warrior Mind Coach. He specializes in the development of mental strength and focus to achieve a flow state for maximum performance. You can grab his complementary mini eBook, “How To Make Change Easy” by going HERE.