Embracing mindset for successful telephone sales

When selling face-to-face, it’s easy to read your prospect’s body language, observe their reactions, and use your own body language to reinforce your credibility.  When selling over the phone, your sales skills must be top-notch to have a successful interaction. 

Successful sales outcomes over the phone begin with the right mindset. 

You can enhance your skills, by becoming a trusted advisor, through exceptional interaction by phone, and showing the potential client you understand their business. 

This is exciting news. As you expand your sales skills, and tune in to what’s being said, you will connect at a different level. 

Exploring our 30 sales techniques to effectively pivot all flow from a healthy mindset, so let’s address that first.

 

How a positive mindset influences the success of your day

A strong mindset is the foundation for everything you do.  It’s important to acknowledge the importance of your mindset.  Don’t just think about it in the moments before you sit down to make a call – focus on it the rest of the time, too. 

Ask yourself, are you generally a positive person? Do you focus on the things you’re grateful for? If so, great.  But if you tend to be cynical and negative, you’ll need to work harder to generate a positive mindset before you get on the phone. 

You can cultivate a positive mindset by:

• Practicing gratitude
• Developing a thick skin so the word ‘no’ doesn’t flatten you
• Remembering what lights you up about what you do 

Start your day by embracing your positive mindset.  Yes, there will always be ups and downs, but it’s how you choose to react to those challenges that will strengthen your resilience and therefore heighten your positive mindset.  Embrace your positive mindset, as it determines everything.  Commit to focusing on it every day.

 

Are you 100% sold on your own product or solution?

A salesperson’s aim is for prospects to understand how amazing your product or solution is.  But do you 100% believe it yourself?

To have the right mindset, you must have 100% certainty and confidence about your own product or solution.   Remember, your client is buying into you, not just what you’re selling – so if you’re not confident about it, how can they be?  

It’s important to be very clear on what your solution does for your prospect and:

• ensure you know exactly what problems and pain points it solves (i.e. what the true value is to them)
• be clear on your USP and elevator pitch

Your elevator pitch doesn’t need to be rote words you repeat on every call, but rather concepts that prove how different your offering is. Those concepts need to be etched into your subconscious so you can always pull out the version that will appeal most to the particular client you’re speaking with at the time. Unless you’re clear about what you’re talking about, your client can’t be either.

If you’re 100% sold, your client will be too. 

 

Review messages from happy clients

One practical way to both lift your mindset AND remind yourself of why your solution is superior is to review comments from satisfied clients. Keep a file of your own happy client messages, reviews, and testimonials, and ask your colleagues to share theirs with you, too. Regularly read through them to give your motivation a boost. 

Celebrating small wins is critical to maintaining motivation – and let’s face it, emails from clients who are thankful about what they bought from you are well worth celebrating! This positive reinforcement will propel you to take action and pick up the phone more often.

 

Limit your media intake or avoid negative media 

The media have a vested interest in making everything sound as dramatic as possible, because drama gets people reading or watching. And, many media sources focus almost exclusively on negative events – completely ignoring anything positive, upbeat, or inspiring.

If you allow negativity into your life, you may unwittingly end up projecting it onto your prospect. So, take notice of which media sources spread negativity and cut them out of your life. Switching off any other media at least 30 minutes before your workday starts can also be helpful. Focus on abundance, gratitude and everything that is positive in your life.  

Seek out positive stories so you yourself are positive.

 

Having a positive mindset is key

When you have the right mindset, you are open to change, which means you can proactively seek new ways to solve client problems that drive revenue growth. 

Here at Smarter Selling, we have observed the behaviours of thousands of salespeople.  Consistently, high performing salespeople are the ones with a positive mindset.  Developing a positive outlook for yourself will not only allow you to be a happier, healthier, and a more likable person, it will also provide the right state of mind when interacting with your prospects.  

For this reason, creating and maintaining a positive attitude in sales is critical to your success.