Double Dog Sales Dare

Issue 3: I Dare You Edition

Double Dog Sales Dare
Last month started a series on the three most common reasons inside salespeople experience calls gone bad:

• Absent Experts
• Missing Skills
• Emotional Hijacking

Ok, so there are really four – sometimes it is the dreaded COMBINATION MAYDAY where mixes of two or all three happen at the same time.

Last month was for absent experts and missing skills, this month is all about Emotional Intelligence and:

Emotional Hijacking
The Hay Group did a study and found “Sales consultants with high levels of EI generate twice the revenue of their colleagues” (in a study of 44 Fortune 500 Companies). WOW – double, that means by keeping our emotions in check we can double what we make.

Sounds so simple, just keep your cool.

Yeah right… just keep your cool when:

• Condescending administrative assistants will not put you through to their boss who is making decisions on what you sell.
• Flippant warehouse personnel don’t seem to care that your customer receives the right product – on time.
• Pessimistic colleagues trap you and spew economic doom & gloom right before your big conference call.
• Hostile committees don’t want to make any decision on the project you have spent the last 3 months working on.
• Demanding boss wants your forecast NOW and more production SOON.

Not to mention; your kid forgot to tell you about the play rehearsal tonight – requiring a costume you haven’t bought, you woke up late, spilled coffee on yourself in the car, etc.

We all have things that trigger us into an emotional hijacking. The first step is to figure out what yours are. If the words on our list don’t resonate with you – choose your own.

Now move on to identify what your preferred caveman response is:

Fight ~ Flight ~ Freeze

At UpYourTeleSales.com we consider freeze to be an important distinction from flight.

You might look at it as the bunny rabbit syndrome. You know, walk into your back yard and the bunny FREEZES right there as if saying “you can’t see me, you can’t see me, if I don’t move you can’t see me”.

Now, change what you do. Interrupt your own behavior pattern. Find an alternative to losing your cool and practice it – until it becomes your new habit.

One of the best self coaching tips for Pattern Interrupt we have heard from a salesperson is to change your automagic reaction to a response by:

Stop ~ Breath ~ Smile
THEN Respond

So what is the double dog sales dare?

Take 3 Steps To Sales Improvement

Many times people aren’t willing to look inside at the screaming caveman who lives there.

Step 1: Emotional trigger identification. Figure out what those things are that hijack your emotions.

Step 2: For the next week – challenge yourself to examine your automagic responses; are you a fight, flight, or freeze fanatic? Is it situational or always?

Step 3: Pattern interrupt. Change what you do and replace it with an alternative that gives you time to regain your emotional composure.

Bonus Points: Looking for an even deeper understanding? Figure out what the first physical symptom is BEFORE you get hijacked.

Want more? Check out this month’s edition of A Chip Off The Block

Then come back, log in, and share your revelations!