banner

Selling Scared — The Death of a Sales Person

The most destructive emotion a sales person can have is fear.

Fear will kill a deal in two seconds.  Fear will drop the price of your product or solution 30% in the blink of an eye. It will add new features faster than you can say, “new feature.” Fear is the nemisis of good sales organizations.

When sales people sell afraid, they are out of control.

Sales people are afraid:

  • They won’t make quota
  • They won’t make enough money
  • To lose the deal (to the competition, over price, because it won’t install fast enough)
  • To lose their job
  • They are behind their peers on the leader board
  • They will miss their car payment/house payment/some payment
  • They aren’t good enough
  • The pipeline isn’t big enough
  •  To fail

The reason fear enters a sales persons world are plenty.  They are unavoidable, but must be controlled.

Sales people, manage your fear.  Build on the confidence that says you are a damn good sales person. Know that if you do the work, if you have the knowledge, if you commit to your customer, you will have nothing to be afraid of. You’ll make your number. You’re pipeline will be big enough. You won’t lose to the competition. You won’t lose on price.  You’re gonna be just fine.

Management,

DON’T CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT OF FEAR!  It will bury you. It’s over when sales people are selling scared. There are enough reasons for sale people to be afraid, you don’t need to be another.

Fear is the death of a sales person.

Don’t sell scared!

Enhanced by Zemanta

  • Rob Sader

    Great post Jim.  By far one of the biggest complaints that I hear of mediocre or bad management is that they create an environment of fear.  Never is productive in my mind.  Great sales people will push themselves harder for results that any management technique or motivational technique ever will.
    Fear, as you say, only will be destructive, not constructive!

  • http://www.trustedadvisor.com/trustmatters Charles H. Green

    I’ve always said, the number one root negative human emotion is fear; scratch any other negative emotion and you’ll find fear at its bedrock. Great example of just that.