Selling Power Magazine Article

It is the goal of any sales manager to have a sales force working at peak performance. It is up to the coach to teach the players the skills and techniques useful to their position and, most important, build their confidence and self-esteem.

Salespeople develop confidence through a deep knowledge of the product, including the features and benefits to a prospective customer. The more salespeople know about the features and benefits of their products, the more confident they will be when making a presentation. Likewise, the more they know about the competition the better they can counter stalls, objections and the comparisons that buyers make.

In football, the more the player knows about the game the better equipped he is, both physically and mentally. And the more he knows about the team he will be up against, the better he can prepare both his offensive and defensive strategies. A football player, or any athlete for that matter, develops through practicing and playing.

The most important ingredient a salesperson or football player must have is a positive self-image. A wealth of knowledge won't help if the salesperson doesn't have the self-confidence to make that big sale or follow through on the play. It is important for a coach to instill a positive self-image in all the players. The coach must teach the players to accept criticism and use it in a positive way.

The best self-esteem builder I know is the small victory. The coach must recognize every victory, no matter how small. As Dale Carnegie once wrote: "Recognition and appreciation must be sincere and honest." The coach must notice and applaud the small victories on a daily basis. Then, when the time for criticism comes, the coach has developed a positive energy surplus that he can draw from without sacrificing the salesperson's self-confidence.

Once a salesperson or player has had a string of small victories, he is much more open to positive criticism and positive self-analysis. A player is on the way to becoming empowered once he feels he won't be humiliated for making a mistake. That salesperson is now more open to taking a gamble to make the big play.

Nothing is more satisfying for a mentor than having players correct themselves using the parameters that you have given them. Studies have shown that teaching and teaming from each other maximizes performance among salespeople and football players. As a football coach, it is important to take what we have teamed and pass it on to our players in a way that builds confidence and trust. With knowledge, confidence, a positive self-image and support, players and salespeople can fulfill any goals they set.