The secret of how being great at something and how that one thing can increase your confidence in selling!

It took me 2 years and eight months to get my first sales job. Basically, I was shy and lacked confidence.

When I was younger, I went to 11 different schools and was always the new kid on the block. I carried this into my adulthood and it set me up to be nervous when meeting people for the first time. I wasn’t sure of myself and always felt self-conscious.

Making the leap from behind the scenes marketing roles to straight up sales took a lot of courage for me. I was attracted to the buzz of sales, but I knew my fears were holding me back. The company I was with didn’t want me to go into sales. They loved what I was doing in marketing and had me defined in that role.

Despite that, and my shyness, I really wanted to get out on the road, away from the office, driving a company car with the wind in my hair. I wanted to be free. I’ve always loved my free time. So, I talked my way in and eventually persuaded my boss to give me a go.

I struggled along the way, and at times I thought I’d made a big mistake in even giving it a go. The clients wanted to talk, but not always buy and I was sometimes discouraged in those early years. Often, I’d go home deflated, wondering how I was going to make this work, and what was I doing wrong?

Then, I found ‘personal development’ and did every sales training I could get my hands on. I used the natural competitiveness I had always instinctively had in sports, on the basketball court and on the running track, and I transferred that to selling. In sport and training I loved to win, to push myself beyond my comfort zone. Practice and building athletic skills took dedication. I now saw sales as something I also had to master and understood it would take time. Still, I was impatient for success and wanted to be the leader of the pack. It took me over a year of applied effort to prove myself.

After that first year, it was like it all came together, and I was the sales leader for eight months straight across Australasia. I’d done it - I proved I could make it in sales. I was only 24 years old when the company offered me the sales manager’s role. The youngest team member that would need to report to me was in their mid-thirties.

Although my growing confidence attracted another job offer that took me overseas to live instead, I had conquered my fear and achieved my goal of becoming highly skilled at sales.

You have brilliant skills in at least one area in your life. Are you a great cook? A you a great supporter of your friends? Are you a great at being present for your children? Are you an expert when it comes to travel? What is one thing about this skill that could help you be more confident in sales?