I talked last week about Stuart Smalley (aka Senator Al Franken, Minnesota) and how he immortalized his version of ‘self talk’ on Saturday Night Live (see Sales 101: How Good Is Your Self Talk?)
I want continue this discussion today and talk about a natural end result of positive self talk - self confidence. Self confidence is extremely important in all aspects of our lives, but if you’re in sales, it’s a must.
Self confident people inspire confidence in others: their clients, their prospects, their peers, their friends, their family.
Your self confidence (or lack of same) can manifest itself in many ways: how you act, how you speak, your body language, your posture, etc.
We’ll talk about things you can do to learn how to improve your self confidence in some post Thanksgiving posts, but for today, I just want you to answer the following questions just to get an early guage on where your self confidence meter falls.
1) Do you wait for others to congratulate you on your accomplishments? Or are you constantly ‘blowing your own horn’ to as many people as possible as often as you can?
2) Do you admit your mistakes? Or do you prioritize finding ways to cover up and fix a problem before anyone notices?
3) Are you willing to take risks, to push yourself a little harder to achieve better things? Or, do you always stay in your comfort zone and avoid risks at all cost?
4) Do you always try to do what’s right? Or, is your behavior dictated by what others may say or think?
5) Do you accept compliments graciously (“Thanks; I worked hard on that; appreciate you noticing.”)? Or, do you just dismiss any compliment you may receive (“No big deal; anyone could have done it.”)?
Your answers to these questions will say a lot about you and your self confidence. Remember: Low self confidence can be frighteningly destructive, and since we are responsible for building our own self esteem, remind yourself daily: “I”m good enough. I”m smart enough. And gosh darn it, people like me.”
Thanks for being here; have a super weekend!
Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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Comments (1)
So what are the right answers?
Comment by Dan Eveland — November 18, 2011 @ 5:52 pm