Self-Worth and Self-Esteem

Self-Worth and Self-Esteem

These are probably the two biggest obstacles to your sales success.

Self-esteem is how you view yourself in terms of yourself.

When you’re alone – singing in the shower – you are a total rock star:

“Man, can you sing! And look at yourself in that steamed-up mirror. Sure, you’re 20 pounds heavier than you like, but hoo boy – you are still looking good, my friend.”

Self-worth is how you view yourself in terms of others:

“Uh-oh. Is that broccoli in my teeth? I should have worn that other blouse. I hope they don’t ask me if I worked in their industry before. I should’ve updated my website before this meeting. What if they ask if I have a Ph.D.? I’m afraid they won’t take me seriously.”

Most of us are fine when it comes to self-esteem, but self-worth is where things tend to break down.

Here are some pointers about self-worth that will help you improve your sales results:

Be a better person. One of my early sales mentors once said, “David, you know, you're so concerned about being a better salesperson. Don't worry about being a better salesperson, just be a better person, and more sales will happen.”

Don't worry about not being good enough or smart enough. People don’t buy from you because of your credentials or because you have fancy letters after your name. They buy from you because of

• Your certainty that you can help them
• Your certainty about your expertise
• Your certainty of your relevance, value, and results

Help more people, connect with more people, have more conversations, and add more value to the people that you would like to recruit as “your next client.”

Focus on outcomes. People never buy your products and services and programs. What they really buy is outcomes. In your sales conversations, everything needs to be about their team, their company, their problems, their challenges, their goals, their results, and arriving at the ultimate destination that your clients want to get to.

Remind yourself of your own awesomeness. At some point along the way, you may have simply forgotten how awesome you are, and you need a reminder. This is it.

Keep a “success” file. To remember your client success stories, keep a file of all the thank you emails, letters, cards, and notes that you've received. I have an electronic folder and a paper folder in my filing cabinet labeled, “Kudos.” Kudos is slang for congratulations. When I'm having a bad day, when I'm not looking forward to my next sales call, when I'm a little bit down on myself, I will open that kudos file. And then very quickly after flipping through it, I am reenergized and recharged.

Always be ready to blow your own horn and lead your own parade. Because if you're down on yourself, if you don't think you're the greatest thing since sliced bread, why in the world would your prospects think so?

Write your answers to the following questions down and think bullets – not paragraphs:

• What do you receive compliments about?
• What do people ask you to do?
• What do people seek your advice about?
• What consistent themes and patterns do you notice from your responses above?

You will use these insights as rocket fuel and they will help you redefine your sales activities and sales strategies.?

-- David

p.s. Book your Business Accelerator call now. We’ll discuss where you are in your business right now - where you’d like to go - and how you might get there much more quickly than working on your own OR getting sucked into the vortex of conflicting advice floating around in your head. Again, nothing to buy on this diagnostic call. No gimmicks and no-nonsense.?

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