Positioning is a Psychological Game

Are you a great technical professional who finds it difficult to do other things like selling, whether it's selling your services, selling yourself to others, or selling anything at all? Well, stick with me because this week I'm going to help you demystify all of that and empower yourself to be able to do those things as well.

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, leadership and sustainable performance coach, and today I'm continuing our conversation about positioning—moving from being invisible to becoming in demand—by helping you understand that positioning is a psychological game.

Many professionals I work with are technically great in their areas of expertise. The knowledge they have and the services they provide come easily and effortlessly because that's what they're used to. However, as you grow in your career, whether you're working internally within an organisation or seeking to attract clients externally, it's essential to shift your skill set. You need to add certain skills that may not come naturally and aren't typically taught in the standard training you received to become professionally ready as a technician.

One of those skills is selling, and I know that, as we discussed last week, people sometimes avoid calling it 'selling' when they're in certain roles because they don't want to see themselves as salespeople. Instead, they might refer to it as ‘business development’. However, the label doesn't really matter. What I want to help you with today is removing the roadblocks that are holding you back—the internal dialogue and the things you are telling yourself that are stopping you from getting out there and applying the same drive and energy you use to excel as a technician to these other aspects of your role, without letting them doing your head in or eating your lunch.

The biggest challenge people face is often in their mindset—what they believe about certain things. You see, it’s not about what happens; it’s about what you make it mean.

When it comes to selling, it's about putting yourself out there and doing things differently, perhaps in ways that may feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar. This discomfort often stems from the perceptions you have about what selling involves. You might think of selling as something negative, possibly because you've had bad experiences with it. For example, those unsolicited calls you receive in the evening, from well-meaning call centres somewhere in the world, trying to sell you something even when they say they’re not. That might be your impression of what sales is all about. As a result, you might think, “I don’t want to be like that,” and you certainly don’t want others to see you in that light.

If we're talking about your career within an organisation, you might hold the opinion that people who put themselves out there are pushy or something similar. This underlying dialogue—the beliefs you carry—will determine whether or not you engage in self-promotion and, if you do, whether it feels comfortable or not. I never see things as simply hard or easy. Instead, I believe that things become easy because we've done them repeatedly. How do we make things easy—or what I prefer to call familiar—that we don't normally do? We do them over and over again until they become second nature.

So, if you’re new to promoting yourself and what you do, it might feel unsettling at first, like those butterflies are not quite in formation. However, there are many aspects of your role today that likely made you feel the same way when you first started. But over time, you persevered, kept at it, and now those tasks are easy, effortless, and happen without conscious thought.

The key is to understand that your internal psychology—your identity—will determine your ability to put yourself out there. This is shaped by the beliefs and experiences you’ve had, and what you made them mean.

So, once you overcome that mindset, realise that the things you’re telling yourself are not actually true, and recognise that those beliefs aren’t serving you—it’s time to reject them. After rejecting them, you need to replace them with new, empowering beliefs that will help you do what you need to do.

You may have had certain experiences with sales that have shaped your thinking, and as I often say to people who have had a bad experience that changes their entire outlook: Have you ever had a bad haircut? The usual response is, “Well, yes.” Then I ask, “Have you stopped having haircuts?” Of course not. It’s exactly the same with selling. Just because you’ve had certain negative experiences doesn’t mean you need to push the whole concept aside, throwing out the baby with the bathwater and deciding you don’t want to engage with it anymore.

It’s about tweaking and adjusting your approach so that you do things differently each time. Over time, these small changes add up, and things begin to shift. It's crucial to filter everything you do through your own values and beliefs, as we’ve talked about in relation to identity.

Now, let’s shift gears and focus on the people you’re positioning yourself in front of—the ones you want to stand out to. It’s about making sure you don’t blend in with everyone else and that you’re able to promote yourself and what you do effectively to get the response you want.

I call this the psychology of selling.

The first thing you need to do is start thinking the way they do. Instead of just thinking from your own perspective, you need to speak the way that they do and put yourself in their shoes. It’s like public speaking—many people fear it because they’re focused on themselves rather than on the audience. When you shift your focus and aim to serve people with your message, everything changes.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE: https://www.grantherbert.com/blog/positioning-is-a-psychological-game

Grant Herbert (aka The People Builder) describes himself as an ordinary guy, with an outstanding wife and 5 amazing kids, who has a passion to help people escape the performance trap and regain their authenticity in every area of life. He is a VUCA Leadership Mentor, Sustainable Performance Coach, Master Coach Trainer in Social and Emotional Intelligence,?and the founder of People Builders.

Visit www.grantherbert.com to find out how you can connect.