In one of the articles I recently wrote (\u201cSell It With Confidence\u201d), I later thought to myself that many salespeople may not understand where confidence comes from. In my first year of selling, lack of confidence was a big problem for me as a salesperson.\u00a0 I really struggled and the numbers showed.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t quite realize it at the time, but over the years when I reflected back to my first year at selling, I knew that it was a lack of confidence that really hurt my efforts.\u00a0 So where does confidence come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learning. Learning and through your experiences. The more knowledge that I possessed about my products and services, and the more knowledge that I had about my customer’s problems, the greater my confidence grew. Knowing specifically how I could help them made me confident. Having this kind of specialized knowledge goes a long way with growing confidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don\u2019t have to spend countless hours knowing every single thing about your product. You do need to make it a habit of learning a few new things each week. Over time, this will help you with becoming a naturally more confident salesperson. Take time each day to learn something new about your products, your industry, and your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I first started selling accounting software, I pretty much knew nothing about it. As a result, there wasn\u2019t a whole lot of confidence in my ability to sell and to convince customers to buy. So what did I do? Each time we presented the software to a customer, I would learn something new about it. A feature, or a function, and how it would solve a particular problem for my customer. I would make notes and learn. Then I took it a step further. I would review and study the help guides and the online tutorials and training that went with my product. I would understand how things worked and why they worked that way. All of this helped me learn my product much better than most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What did all this do for my confidence?\u00a0 It went through the roof.\u00a0 I was no longer shy in client meetings being hesitant to speak about something for fear that I might be wrong.\u00a0 Instead, I would now speak up more, have more enthusiasm around a particular part of my product because I knew what it did and how it could help my customer. I got so good at it that the company would send me on roadshows to highlight our company and our products and I would give the audience product demonstrations on my own.\u00a0 I was so confident that I would often make jokes at myself or tell the customer things like, \u201cIf you think that is an amazing feature, wait until I show you the button that allows the software to print money!\u201d\u00a0 The customers would love it.\u00a0 And they would buy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note that last sentence. They would buy because I was so confident knowing that my product would really help them that I knew deep-down inside that my customer should not go another day without my product! They would be foolish to do so and I would be foolish to allow it! This is what confidence will do for you as a salesperson. Use its power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Confidence comes from learning. From your experiences and your understanding of a particular topic. The more you put into this, the more confident that you will become. Constantly be learning, constantly be building your confidence and your sales will increase dramatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-Happy Selling!<\/p>\n\n\n\n