How salespeople can increase resiliency and mental toughness to be able to overcome challenges in today’s business world? Today’s topic goes deeper under the surface of any difficult situation and it is all about different successful strategies that salespeople can apply when adversity strikes and all hope of closing the deal appears to be lost.
These strategies are applicable also for other parts of your life, like whether it’s the end of a relationship, or losing the job, but we need to realize that some circumstances are simply beyond saving. Some situations have to run their course and other plans need to be made.
Hopeless events don’t exclude the possibility of better days ahead. If you’re experiencing adversity in the business situation, letting go, learning, and moving on can be a great solution.
Try these 8 strategies when it appears all is lost in a business situation:
Strategy #1: Don’t Give Up But Know When To Let It Go
- If the negative outcome of your sales activities is inevitable, does obsessing over it ever help? This might feel like giving up, but how intelligent is it to continue chasing potential customers with something that can’t possibly be won?
- Your mindset determines how you look at the adversity and do not passively accept the adversity, and continue to push forward and try to find a way, but some situations simply cannot be solved.
- Make the conscious decision to let go of this difficult situation and get on with other contacts from the same account or refocus your activities on generating new leads and booking appointments with new prospects.
Strategy #2: Purge Your Emotions
- Hopefully, you already know several healthy ways to make yourself feel better after losing the deal (which will inevitably happen to even the best and most resilient salespeople out there). Feeling sorry for yourself will sabotage your ability to find the solution and potential next steps. Blaming yourself also does not help when adversity hits. Take responsibility and analyze what you could done differently and then make peace with what happened with that specific customer.
- Maybe you will feel better after a long exercise session. Other people feel relief after talking with their spouse or spending time with their children. Maybe having dinner with a good friend will boost your spirits. The point here is to re-focus your mind on non-business elements of your life.
- The key is to clear your head and gain perspective. Find a healthy solution. Drinking, drugs, and spending money irresponsibly (like gambling or online shopping) are a few examples of unhealthy alternatives that many salespeople run to. Choose wisely.
Strategy #3: Learn Something New About Yourself From Adversity
- In most cases, adversity presents the opportunity to improve your abilities. Think about how you contributed to the situation at hand. Did you ignore early red flags and warning signs when you started the conversation with this prospect? Were you focused on dollar amount and closing the deal fast and ignored the other decision makers within that account?
- It’s common to repeat our mistakes. What can you learn to avoid a repeat mistake in the future? Imagine how great your life would be if you only made each mistake once. Remember that the secret of success in sales lies in not avoiding adversity but embracing it and developing your resilience to be able to overcome difficult sales situations in the future. Resilient salespeople sell more.
Strategy #4: Free Your Mind and Enjoy Yourself
- Now might be the perfect time to visit your favorite restaurant, take a walk in the park, or see a movie with a friend. Just because life has thrown a curveball doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time. It might sound counterintuitive to search for humour of the situation when facing adversity but try to have a good laugh and forge ahead. It is a very healthy way of building your resilience.
Strategy #5: Keep Up With Your Responsibilities
- Your children still need your love and attention. The bills still have to be paid. Avoid letting the other areas of your life suffer because you experienced adversity in your sales career. If you a passionate about helping your customers, it will reflect upon your enthusiasm and how you talk and represent your company and products or services you sell. It will motivate you to keep pushing until you succeed. But one thing you cannot do – give up. Believe in your selling skills and you are already a step ahead on a road of rebounding from adversity.
Strategy #6: Create a Plan for the Future.
- Looking forward to an interesting and exciting future may be the best way to move forward from adversity. If the future seems bleak, it’s hard to keep a positive mindset. To develop your resiliency, a positive and optimistic mindset is an important skill for every salesperson to have.
- Allow yourself to be optimistic when facing with a difficult situation and try to create a compelling future for yourself. Then take one small step towards making that future a reality. Refuse negativity to creep into your mind.
Strategy #7: Make a List of all the Things that You’ve Accomplished.
- It’s likely there are many other salespeople in the world with far more challenging circumstances. It can be easy to forget this fact. If you think about it, you have lots of things going for you. Make a list and add to it often. Find the gratitude and it will help you put the things into the perspective.
Strategy #8: Remember Other Situations in Your Life that Seemed Hopeless.
- Odds are you survived and ultimately came out on the other side more resilient and knowledgeable. Ask yourself: how did you overcome adversity before? What did you do? What got you through? You know the saying, what does not kill you makes you stronger.
- You would not be here if you were not capable of handling this situation. There is always a way out of a difficult situation and resilient salespeople firmly believe that nothing is permanent. Thinks change. Customers change. Budgets change. Decision makers change. Market changes as well.
- Go back to the point about learning from adversity and seeing it as an opportunity for growth.
Adversity happens. Not every situation is salvageable. Not always we can bounce back and find a way to overcome difficult business situation. Salespeople need to move forward despite adversity, but there are occasional situations where we need to let go.
Letting go and moving forward sometimes can be the best solution. Worrying has never changed the actual outcome of any situation. Allow yourself to enjoy your career and create a future that keeps your eyes facing forward.
Use these 8 strategies to help you get through adversity and come on the other side stronger and resilient. It will help you stay calm and better mentally prepared when adversity strikes again in the future.
