Are ghosts of prospecting past haunting your sales?

One of the excuses I hear from salespeople about why they don’t prospect is something just didn’t go right in the past. And as a result, that negative experience sticks with them going forward, and they can’t get past it.

Let me share six things that you can do right now to help you get past any unfortunate events you’re dealing with.

**This blog is part of the 15 Reasons Holding Salespeople Back series**

1. What can I learn from it?

It may be a past experience that just went wrong. What can I learn that will help me not do it again going forward?

If I do something right, I learn a little, but if I do something wrong, I learn a lot more.

This is your opportunity.

2. After you learn from it, let it go.

Be thankful. Tell yourself this: I’m glad I had that experience. I’m glad that didn’t go well, because I learned X, and I’m better because of it.

Thank goodness I’ve had problems prospecting, because it’s made me a better salesperson today. Shifting to this mindset helps you focus on everything that you’re doing.

3. Focus on your success today.

Don’t focus on what didn’t happen yesterday. Focus on today.

As I go through each morning, I wake up and I say, who are the people who I’m going to have a chance to prospect with today? I may or may not have conversations with them. I may or may not get connections with them, but I’m going to focus on them today and try to make that the best experience possible.

4. Be proud of what you’ve become.

If I were to tell you about all of the failures I’ve had in sales over the years, you would be blown away. But you know what? We all have. But I look at those failures I’ve had and I say thank goodness.

It’s made me an unbelievable salesperson today. It’s given me an incredible level of confidence because I’ve been able to deal with those issues, and that’s huge.

5. Play the long game.

It’s so easy for us to focus on that negative experience that happened last week or just yesterday, or maybe it was just an hour ago. Hey, relax, forget about it. The sun’s still going to come up in the morning.

Play the long game and know you’re going to be able to take another 10,000 shots. When you play the long game, it’s amazing how those past experiences just fade away.

6. Always have someone around you who supports you.

This is why I’m such a strong believer in having that peer group or that mastermind group.

In fact, it’s one of the reasons why I’ve teamed up with Meredith Elliot Powell in Sales Logic. We’ve created a Mastermind out of it so more professionals have people around who support them and make them stronger.

When you have somebody who can support you, they’re going to help pick you up when you’re down. Sales is not a solo activity. Sales is a team sport.