Sales Success Is Your Choice

Salespeople fall into three general categories: winners, losers, and at-leasters. To identify your category, place yourself on the chart.

Winners see themselves on the left side of the scale — the I (Identity) side — somewhere between seven and 10. Regardless of how they perform on the right side of the scale — the R (Role) side — they feel pretty good about themselves.

Losers — on the I side of the scale — see themselves somewhere between zero and three. They allow role performance to affect how they feel about themselves. In a vicious cycle they usually do poorly in most areas of role performance because of the low self esteem they suffer based on their own performance.

At-leasters see themselves somewhere between four and six on the I scale. They like themselves conditionally, if things are going fairly well on the R side; but don’t feel so good about themselves when things aren’t going well on the R side. Not wanting to upset the psychological apple cart, at-leasters maintain average results for average effort.

Of course, placement on the chart can vary depending on how a salesperson feels about himself or herself on any given day. If you like yourself more after landing a big sale, your I numbers will go up accordingly. On the other hand, if you’re like a salesman I know called Wally Weakcloser, even after landing 10 out of 10 accounts, you’ll find a way to adjust the I side to fit your weaker picture of yourself.

Wally rates himself as an I-5. He has spent years allowing his role performances to affect the way he feels about himself. Wally was taught to believe his true worth as a person was a direct result of how well he performed in his roles. He’s a textbook at-leaster. Although he has just given a winning performance, closing 10 out of 10 sales in a row, in his role performance as a salesman there can be no doubt that Wally is performing as an R-10. As Wally looks at his role performance from his I side, he thinks to himself, “I’m good….but not that good,” and promptly finds a way to adjust his score. Since he doesn’t believe that he deserves to win, he subconsciously begins to do whatever he has to do to get where he feels he belongs — somewhere between four and six in his role performance. He runs to his comfort zone.

At other times, Wally has experienced the low-of-lows for a salesman: closing zero out of ten. Even with Wally’s low self-concept of 1 to 5, he knows he is better than that. So, Wally looks down from his I side and says, “I’m not the greatest, but I’m not as bad as all that.” He adjusts by doing whatever he has to do to get back to his comfort zone, between R-4 and R-6.

Over the years, no matter how hard Wally works at training his R side, he always performs on average as an at-leaster. Since Wally sees role failure as having an effect on his I side, he can only put himself in low-risk selling situations. Any attempt at high-risk endeavors demands too high a price — potential total I failure.

Many salespeople like Wally will not place themselves in high-risk situations because they are psychologically too dangerous. True professional salespeople don’t use selling or any other role to prove self-worth.

Role failure is only that — role failure. Once you grasp and internalize the concept that there is a difference between who you are (I) and what you do (R), then role failure, no matter how unpleasant and painful it may be for brief moments, will not have a devaluing effect on your self-image or on your future performance.

To keep the I and the R in perspective, perhaps a visual picture of the I/R relationship will help. Imagine yourself on another island. On this island there is a castle. Let the castle represent your I. Your I is what you began with when you were born, your core. It’s your nervous system, motor system, electrical system, and your physiological and psychological makeup. Over the years, you have added to and subtracted from this inner-core — the real you. Around your I, place a moat filled with ferocious creatures. Around the moat, put the R world — earth and its inhabitants. When you awake in the morning, during that instant before you engage in your daily activities, you are on the island — alone. The drawbridge to your castle is lifted high, no one can enter. As you begin your day and venture across the drawbridge to the R world, you are taking with you your healthy self-image. You are a 1 to 10. You begin to interact with others; many of those interactions will be non-threatening and rewarding. There will, however, be times when you will experience conflict. You may experience role-failure.

It is during these times of stress that you must mentally take your I back across the drawbridge, raise the bridge, enter your castle (I), and look back over at the R world with a clear perspective.

Only you have the key to the castle. No one can affect your I; no one can hurt you; no one can devalue your 1 to 10 rating today. As soon as you recognize and believe this statement, more sales are close behind. With more sales come more expectations of success for the future and an ever more solid base for the castle that is you.