May 25, 2022
Have you ever gotten down on yourself after you’ve missed your mark? You didn’t close the sale, or maybe you didn’t reach the revenue goal you set for yourself. Now you’re feeling discouraged, and perhaps even a bit unmotivated to soldier on.
Warning: This mentality can easily lead to a downward spiral if you’re not careful.
But, I’ve got good news. One lost deal does NOT have to lead to more lost deals. One missed goal need not impact your entire business moving forward.
In today’s new post, I’m giving you a few quick tips to help you avoid spiraling out of sales.
Read on to find out what it means to “break your state” and learn how to quickly reset your entrepreneurial brain to not lose momentum (or money!).
Spiraling out of sales
What exactly does “spiraling out of sales” mean?
We can agree that businesses live or die based on sales, right? And as an entrepreneur, you know that you need to bring in revenue and create profit in order to have a successful business.
Yet so often, I see entrepreneurs spiral themselves out of sales. This happens faster than people realize. You receive one “no” - perhaps the prospect says they can’t afford your product or service - and you take it personally. You allow that “no” to seep into your head.
Rather than considering that they truly cannot afford it, a little signal in your brain starts blinking… I did something wrong. My offer isn’t good enough. I am not good enough.
And just like that, we lead ourselves down this spiral that ends up preventing future sales.
Catching the spiral before it starts
Back in high school, when I was selling Cutco knives, my manager required me to call him after I walked out of every appointment. At the time, I felt like I was being micromanaged, though I can now see the strategy behind this.
If I called him post-appointment and made a sale, he celebrated with me. If I didn’t make the sale, he helped me break my state before I went into my next appointment.
These are two key tips in keeping your sales mojo flowing. Here’s why:
How often do you celebrate when you’ve made a
sale, booked a client, reached a milestone, etc.? Most
entrepreneurs hang up the call, feel a momentary sense of relief
for the cash flow, then move on. No celebration. But your brain
NEEDS that hit of dopamine. Your body needs to know that what just
happened was a great thing so it can keep searching for more of
those.
This is why we celebrate - to train our brains to seek more of this same success. It doesn’t matter how you do it - dance, jump up and down, pump your arms - really any positive, celebratory action will do. Just don’t forget to do it!
Something always comes after your appointment
when you don’t make a sale. Maybe you stacked your day full of back
to back appointments, or perhaps you have time set aside to work on
your website and marketing materials. Maybe you have a discovery
call, or emails you’ve got to write. Whatever it is that comes
after is important - and so is the energy + mindset you bring to
those activities.
“Breaking your state” is about mindfully resetting your mindset so you don’t take the energy of that “no” into your next sale. You don’t want that negativity and the doubts it tries to implant in your head to impact your future outcomes. Breaking your state helps you avoid the rabbit hole of self-criticism that is a real mojo thief.
You can “break your state” in a variety of ways and it can take as little as 1 - 5 minutes. It can be something physical like running a few laps, or doing a few jumping jacks. It can involve some short breath work or meditation. The point here is to change your attitude before your attitude changes your results.
A slump is only a slump in your head
Have you ever felt like because you didn’t hit a goal one quarter that it ended up impacting your next quarter? Have you ever let a bad day wreck your week? Have you ever had an unproductive discovery call lead to several more disappointing discovery calls?
If you are in what feels like a slump, it's because you're letting your mojo get to you. A slump is only a slump in your head - it’s not real. And it can be eradicated with a mental reset.
The key here is to never let a lost deal impact your next sale, next outcome, or the overall health of your business. A lost deal is a lost deal. That's all it is - one lost deal. It does not need to lead to more lost deals.
How to get over the hump of the slump
Begin by focusing on just one sale - the next
opportunity in front of you. You don’t have to solve all of your
revenue worries all at once. Just put your attention on making one
sale, getting one win. After that, then you can move on to the next
one, then the next one after that. One sale at a
time.
You most likely got into entrepreneurship
because you had an offer, an ability, a skill, or some sort of
knowledge that could help others. And when you sell with your soul,
you come from a place of service. Can you remember why you got into
this and reset your energy to come from that place of service? What
do you love about helping people? What do you love about serving
others?
When you can approach sales from that standpoint - where it's not just about the number or about making ends meet, your sales will begin to skyrocket. This is because you are taking yourself out of the equation. It's taking the selfishness out of sales because it's no longer about you and your revenue goals, but about your client and how you can serve them.
Staying out of the sales spiral is all about energy
No matter what negative outcome you’re facing, whether it be a lost sale, a missed deal, an upset customer, lack of traffic, etc., the key is to not allow it to impact your next sale. Allow it to be a standalone incident that does not hold meaning or power over your future outcomes.
So this week, I encourage you to start celebrating every win - no matter how small - and reinforcing your belief in your ability to serve your clients. Take that energy as you move forward and you’ll maintain a momentum of success and avoid a downward sales spiral.