How to Ride out the Rough Patches in Sales

By Selling Power Editors

How do you stay upbeat in sales? Even little things can work wonders to improve any salesperson’s outlook. Consider the following tips – they’ll help you to not only ride out the rough patches but also come out with the right attitude to boost sales.

Next!
Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul, swears by the N-E-X-T formula. As he points out, “Everybody gets rejected. Count on it. And you have to know how to deal with it.” A prime prospect will say, “No thanks;” key customers will shift their business elsewhere and, well, those things happen. At that point, if you don’t have a plan for meeting rejection head-on, you’ll lose important momentum and begin to falter.

To avoid that, “Use this formula: N-E-X-T,” Hansen explains. “If a prospect says no, go to the next one on your list. If an idea doesn’t work, immediately go to the next one. ‘Next’ is the most important word I know. Whenever something doesn’t work for me, I just tell myself, ‘Next!’ It works.”

Remember what N-E-X-T can do. It helped transform Hansen into a multimillionaire. Perhaps it will work for you.

Use Music Therapy
Edie Raether, a North Carolina-based “change strategist” and speaker suggests music as therapy to either calm or energize yourself. “The rhythmical flow of Baroque music – Bach, Vivaldi and Pachelbel – gets you in the zone,” she explains. “The tempo helps slow down speech, thought patterns, heartbeat and brain wave activity.” Alternately, if you need to get pumped up, she suggests you try “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” marches (think Sousa), or selections from Les Miserables. Make a “power playlist” of tunes that you know impact your mood, and play it the next time your mood needs changing.

Meditate
According to Deepak Chopra, daily meditation can help center you and take your mind off negativity. “Meditation is the ability to experience a silent mind,” he says. “Here’s a way to do it: Sit quietly in a chair, close your eyes and do nothing. Give it a try. Once you’ve silenced the negative chatter in your brain and become more in touch with yourself, today’s downturns will seem trivial – and it will be that much easier to focus on tomorrow’s successes.

Reward Yourself
Dr. Myrna Hartley, a West Los Angeles-based psychologist, advises rewarding ourselves to boost our self-esteem, which is the first thing to sag when things go wrong. She suggests picking one thing daily you will do just for yourself – from taking a sunset walk on the beach to buying a new tennis racquet. The road to creating a thriving career can seem long and bumpy, but a diet of small but regular rewards will make progress all the sweeter. “We need to be reminded, tangibly, that good efforts pay off, that they produce pleasurable results,” says Hartley.

Phone Home
Having a really wretched day? Reach out to your loved ones at home, urges Nanci McGraw, a San Diego-based speaker and author. “If you need a change, phone home and talk. Even if there is no one at home, just talk. Talk about what you intend to do first thing when you get home that day.” This will give you some perspective on a bad situation and how it fits into your entire life. “This day will take its place as only one day in your life,” she says, “and it will end at some point.”

Lend a Helping Hand
Pick yourself up by picking up another, advises Jim Tunney, the speaker known as “The Dean of NFL Referees” for his 31 years working with NFL teams. When the going goes terribly, Tunney urges, “Help somebody else. There’s no greater exercise than to stoop down and help a youngster who’s having trouble in school. Or volunteer for the Special Olympics, Meals on Wheels, the American Lung Association – anything. When you reach out to help someone else, you feel better.”

Tough It Out
When the going gets rough, well, so what? That’s what speaker and author Patricia Fripp says. Her core advice is to basically tough it out in bad situations. “People often ask me, ‘What if you have to stand up and motivate an audience of 800 and you don’t feel like it?'” she notes. “When you realize there’s jet lag, airline food and bad hotels, there are times when you might not feel like it. But I can honestly tell you, I never ask myself, ‘Do I feel like doing this?’ You just do it. That’s what a professional does. If you have business commitments – we all do, there are appointments, sales calls, etc. – don’t ask yourself, ‘Do I feel like it?’ You do what you have to do, to do what you want to do.”

You always have choices. You can mope about what’s gone wrong, or you can pick yourself up and get moving. Which will it be?