When I look back at my life as an Entrepreneur, I get a little choked up. You might think that I get choked up from the disappointments that I have faced or the challenges I have overcome.
But that’s not it. I get choked up when I think about the support I have received from countless clients, mentors, strategic partners, friends and family members. Without their support, I never would have kept going, I would have given up long ago. I would have stopped.
Where do you stop?
I really want you to answer that question for yourself, right now, in this moment. Recently I was listening to a training series taught by a well-known success expert. One of the questions he asked over and over again is, “Where will you stop yourself”? What he meant was, “Where will you stop yourself on your way to achieving your goals?”
He really made me think about my own business. Where do I stop myself? The truth is, there are many times I want to stop, especially when something is out of my comfort zone.
When I look back over my entrepreneurial career, I can see that my biggest breakthroughs came when I was outside of my comfort zone; when I didn’t stop myself.
There are three main places that I see Entrepreneurs and Sales Professionals stop themselves regarding their sales goals. You don’t have to stop, you can train yourself to push through so that you can reach your goals on the other side. The exact place where you stop yourself is the sweet spot that can change everything for you when you retrain your brain. See if the following three areas are places where you stop yourself and then make the decision that you will not let these things stop you.
ONE: You stop yourself before you even begin.
Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, writes, “Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you ready or not, to put this plan into action.”
Great ideas are always popping into our minds. The question is, what do we do with those ideas? Most people do nothing. They get a great idea, excitement builds, and then they figure that someone else is already doing it, or they let something else stop them. I’m not saying that every good idea is worth pursuing, but many are! Thomas Edison had 1,000 failed attempts before he created the light bulb. When a reporter asked him what it felt like to fail 1,000 times, he replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” Are you willing to keep going even in the face of perceived failure? Just take the first step and see where it leads.
TWO: You stop yourself before you follow up.
You know what I am talking about! You might even be laughing! How many times have you picked up the phone to call a prospect back and then set it down again simply because you didn’t want to be rejected? Hundreds? Thousands? Humans fear rejection. We take things personally. The truth is, as I’ve said many times before, “It isn’t about you. Or me.” It’s about the clients that we can help when we get out of the way. Every prospect isn’t going to become your client but how will you know if you don’t give them the opportunity to say, “Yes”?
THREE: You stop yourself before you ask for the sale.
Recently, I was teaching a networking group the principles of Selling with Intention. We were discussing the fact that most people never ask for the sale. One attendee, let’s call her Sally, shared that she was recently in a meeting and someone was “trying to sell her something”. Sally said that the conversation went on and on and on. Along the way, Sally kept hoping that the salesperson would ask for the sale, but they never did. Sally left the meeting without buying anything. Do you want to know the worst part? Sally said she would have purchased the product over and over again, but the salesperson never asked. Ask early and ask often, you just might be surprised how many times you receive a yes!
Let’s face it, fear and doubt will creep in when we least expect it, but you don’t have to let it be the thing that comes between you and your sales goals. Once you have awareness (like you do in this moment) you can decide that you will never stop again. Whenever you notice yourself stopping, you can choose to push through instead.
When you start to master this on a moment by moment basis, you WILL reach your sales goals! Finally, it is important to develop a circle of clients, mentors, strategic partners, friends and family members who can remind you to keep going even when you want to stop.
Don’t stop. Keep going.
