For those of you who are baseball fans like I am (and old enough to remember), the phrase “Ya Gotta Believe” may ring a bell. It’s a phrase attributed to the late Tug McGraw of the New York Mets (and later Philadelphia Phillies) that became the rallying cry for both teams on their quests to championship seasons. You may be wondering what this has to do with the sales profession.
Let me explain. Effective selling starts with the right mindset. Sure, our skills and processes are critically important, but it is virtually impossible to excel in sales without the proper mindset. And that mindset needs to start with “Ya Gotta Believe”. But believe in what? Surely we must believe in ourselves, our abilities, our products and our company. That’s a good start.
But there’s something else we must believe that is critically important: we must believe that we have something to offer our prospects and customers that will genuinely help them improve their business results, achieve personal and professional aspirations, solve tough problems, or all of the above. And we need to not just pay this belief lip service. Some self-reflection is important. Do we REALLY believe we can help customers? We may have examples of cases when we’ve helped other customers achieve goals or solve problems. That helps, but have we actually converted those facts into an unwavering belief that we can help others? And when we don’t have such examples, like when we’re selling something new, it’s imperative that we come to terms with truly believing we can bring value to customers; something they need (even if they don’t know it yet).
Why is this belief so important? Because it changes our whole mindset. Let’s look at how this benefits us.
So many salespeople dread prospecting. Some avoid it like the plague. Others begrudgingly accept that it’s part of the job. They grit their teeth and do it as if it’s worse than a root canal. And when these folks prospect they are often nervous, even scared. They lack confidence. They’re worried about rejection. And it shows in the way they execute. So it becomes a vicious cycle: shaky, desperate sounding calls or poorly crafted emails, lots of rejection, followed by more half-hearted attempts that ultimately result in the feeling that it’s just pointless to prospect. However, if salespeople truly believe they offer something of real value to their prospects, their mindset becomes (at least more) positive, even enthusiastic. They approach prospecting as not only a required activity, but the starting point of helping customers achieve their goals and solve their problems. There’s a world of difference between a “I’m interrupting you to sell you something” mindset and a “I’m interrupting because I can help you improve your business” mindset. They’re selling value not things. Sure, there’s rejection either way (less so with the latter though), but salespeople who believe in the value they offer tend to persevere and flourish.
And the benefits of this belief mindset don’t stop with prospecting. The “Ya Gotta Believe” mindset carries us through the rest of the sales cycle. It gives us the confidence and fortitude to persevere when the going gets tough: when deals get stuck, when buyers have doubts, when they have trouble gaining consensus among stakeholders or when other priorities cause our deal to slip. It enables us to confidently ask for commitments from the buyer, including asking for the order at the right time. Yes, there are certainly skills and knowledge required; it’s not all mindset. But the “Ya Gotta Believe” mindset makes it more likely that we will effectively apply the skills and knowledge. We’re more confident and compelled to do what it takes to win. How often have we known what we’re supposed to do, but lacked the confidence or initiative to actually do it?
In his excellent book, “The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need”, Anthony Iannarino devotes a whole chapter to the belief mindset. Here’s an excerpt:
“Your success depends on your belief that your efforts will produce value for your customers, your company, and yourself…When you believe that you can make a difference and you are a value creator, your confidence and feelings of self-worth will soar. You will be empowered to take action.”
So think about your sales mindset. Do you really believe you can offer something of real value to your prospects? Do you see it as an opportunity (maybe even an obligation) to engage with them to help them? Does your mindset completely and enthusiastically embrace the value you offer? If it doesn’t I suggest you do some soul searching to find out why. Maybe you’ve not given it enough thought. Maybe you don’t really buy-in to the company value proposition. Whatever the reason, if you can’t find a way to truly believe, you might want to consider a different job. Remember, “Ya Gotta Believe”!
