Technical difficulties prevented me from getting this to you earlier today, but I decided tonight is better than tomorrow morning, if for no other reason than to keep my streak of 164,831 consecutive Monday newsletters sent (this is only a slight exaggeration).
Over the weekend, I took my 12-year-old daughter Bella to yet another ninja competition.
In her age group, Bella is in the top 50 girls in the U.S. in this sport. But when she saw this course, she began to doubt herself.
“It’s really hard, I won’t do well,” she told me before she ran it.
“You’ve run my much harder courses,” I replied, and she had.
Her results reflected her mindset, it wasn’t her day.
She’s 12, and this is merely a sport she does — one of several, including volleyball, softball, and basketball.
But you and I are working adults and our livelihood depends on our success at doing what we do.
And for many of us, this means picking up the phone and making proactive calls to customers and prospects.
We can go into this often uncomfortable activity with various mindsets:
- I don’t want to bother them and make them upset.
- If they wanted to buy something else, they’d ask me.
- They know everything I sell already anyway, so what’s the point?
- I’m going to do my best to help them and then move on with my day.
- I owe it to them — and my family — to try to help them more. After all, they’re far better off with me than with the competition.
In every single case, you will behave and, in turn, sell accordingly.
Either meekly or confidently.
Either carefully tip-toeing around the customer or boldly trying to help.
Behavior follows mindset. Sales follow mindset. You can’t outsell your mindset. It’s impossible.
Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
It’s challenging work as it is, so we might as well decide that we can.
I’m pleased to report that today, less than 24 hours after her ninja run, Bella delivered an excellent speech in her school speaking contest, and got an A+ for her delivery about the downsides of too much homework. (She’s not wrong, is she?) The best part of this story is that in the days leading up to the speech, she was doubting herself during her preparations. But then, last night after her difficult ninja run, she decided that she can, gathered her focus, and practiced the speech until she was totally comfortable with it. Then she delivered it confidently and boldly, (not meekly and fearfully) despite the challenges that led up to it.
As a child, she experienced actively improving her mindset to attain excellent results.
I’m super proud of her.
If she can, why can’t we?