Last weekend’s NFL Playoff wildcard game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals was a great reflection of the ups and downs that sales people face each day. Here are a couple of examples to illustrate my point.
The Bengals had a 1-point lead and the ball with about a minute to go in the game. All they needed to do was run out the clock to secure the win. Instead, Cincinnati incurs two penalties and fumbles the ball to Pittsburgh to give the Steelers a chance to move into field goal range for the win. Cincinnati felt the pressure of the moment: they edged close to erasing years of playoff futility, lost focus, and let their emotions get the best of them. Sales people often do the exact same things. They put so much pressure on themselves and their prospects by believing that “they have to get the sale” that they lose focus and let their emotions take over instead of making the simple plays they need to secure the sale.
On the flip side of this, Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell kicks a 35-yard field goal in the final seconds of the game to give the Steelers a 2-point lead and the win. He was able to control his emotions and step up and do his job with no fear when it counted most—and in less than ideal conditions (the Steelers were playing at the Bengals stadium and had most of the fans cheering against them). Sales people have to be able to focus, maintain concentration and believe in themselves to get the job done in tough conditions every day as prospects give them stalls and put offs or throw objections at them throughout the sales cycle.
How does this relate to your company and your team you ask?
Start by asking yourself these questions:
- Are your people controlling their emotions, believing in themselves, and delivering in the clutch when it counts most in sales? Or are they letting the gravity of the moment get the best of them?
- Are they secretly scared and looking for ways to not lose the sale versus asking how they can win the sale?
- Are your people following a proven process and methodology to take the emotions and guesswork out of selling so that they can predict potential outcomes to “the game” more accurately and quickly?
Help them figure out and begin to control these things and you and your team will have a continuous environment of winning in seemingly impossible odds.
