Sales is still largely about your attitude

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Here’s an encouraging Monday message for you. After the multitude of “breakthrough” sales books that have been and will be written, know this:

It’s still largely about your attitude.

Now, when I say “attitude,” I don’t just mean how you feel when you wake up each day. I don’t mean being overly optimistic about everything in life. I don’t mean putting a positive spin on every setback you face. But I do mean managing the specific thoughts that you feed yourself that either cause the right action, or the wrong action.

Your attitude is the catalyst in a three-tiered system of dimensions that encompass who you are. Here’s my brief adaptation of Ron Willingham’s teachings about this three-tiered system (nice overview here).

I Am

At the core is who you really are. This dimension is your collection of self-beliefs, values and current habits. This isn’t who people think you are, again, it’s who you are at your very core. It’s what you are and do and think about when no one else is around. It’s what drives a lot of your success because it’s rooted in the most basic parts of your self-esteem. Willingham calls this your “I Am.”

I Think

The surface dimension is the logical, buttoned-down aspect of your behavior. You do things because you have reasoned that you need to do them for reasons x and y. We think this area is our basis for much of what we do, because it’s scientific. We think we act on a simple, easy, logical basis. We see something that requires a response, Willingham calls this your “I Think.”

I Feel

But then there’s that attitude thing wedged in the middle. Willingham calls it the “I Feel.” It’s your emotional dimension. I say this is the catalyst because it can add life and energy to the other dimensions. You might say it’s forwards and backwards compatible. How you feel about yourself, and how you want to feel about yourself, will cause you to think and act in certain ways (a catalyst for the I Think). But as you demonstrate action, as you challenge your comfort zone, as you set higher expectations for yourself and realize them, it can also stabilize a previously weak I Am dimension.

So, here’s the thing. You can go through life learning the techniques in this program or that. Or this one. Or that one. You can read book after book about selling. They’re all great programs or resources I’m personally familiar with and endorse. But unless you’re committed to mastering the “who you are and how you feel,” you’ll only enjoy limited success. Or worse, you’ll enjoy material success with no real, thorough, guilt-free enjoyment.

attitude, thinking, optimism