What Stories Are You Telling Yourself?
Head trash. Mental road blocks. Negative stories. These are all terms for the stuff we make up in our heads that may be hindering our success in both our personal and professional lives. If I'm being honest, I made up a story about writing this post. I thought, what if it's stupid or if nobody reads it? What if I sound like a dufus? I actually wanted to write this a couple of weeks ago and let the head trash stand in the way. This is what I mean when I talk about the stories we tell ourselves.
I've worked in sales for over 15 years and these stories can be the biggest barrier to a salesperson's success. I've learned a lot of lessons over the years about negative self-talk. I remember when I was a billboard salesman I drove past a little motorcycle accessory store about 20 times in my sales travels when I was on the road. I told myself the building looked small and the sign wasn't very impressive. I'd never even heard of them. They probably didn't have any money to advertise. I wouldn't bother stopping in. One day I must have been feeling at a dead end on prospects and I finally pulled into the small parking lot. That business ended up being one of my best billboard clients for several years. I wonder how much commission I may have lost by not going in there sooner thanks to the stories I was making up?
There are some pretty common stories sales people tell themselves. Do any of these sound familiar? I'm not going to call them because they are too big. I'll never get through to the decision maker. They said no a couple of years ago, why bother? These guys are already spending a bunch of money with me. I can't ask them for more. They probably wouldn't give me a referral if I asked, so I won't. They are a small company and probably don't have the budget. They work with a competitor. They probably wouldn't want to switch to working with me. I've heard the decision maker is tough to work with. I won't waste the effort. They've probably spent their budget for the year already and don't have any money for me.
Does any of this sound familiar? If not, then you may be free from telling yourself negative stories that are affecting your paycheck. If they do sound familiar, my advice to you is simply to start by being aware. Catch yourself doing it and say "I'm telling a story!" Catch other people doing it and call them out on it! The best cure for ending this bad habit is a success story. The first time you catch yourself not calling a prospect because of a story you made up is to say "Hey I'm making up a story here" and call anyway. When that prospect becomes a valuable customer you will be well on your way to stopping the spread of these mental road blocks.