Should failure even be a word?
I struggled with even putting it in the title of this posting. Sales motivation doesn’t connect with failure.
The concern I have with failure is that people (not surprisingly) associate it with negative results. I’d rather not look at it that way.
I’d prefer to see failure not in the negative context of how 98% of all people view it. Rather, I see it as meaning something different.
The definition I want to put on it is that it is something that provides me with an opportunity to learn and advance.
Salespeople and, for that matter, everyone incur what society would view as failures on a regular basis. To me that immediately puts us at a disadvantage. I view failures as a mark of trying something. If we were to go through life not trying new things, then we would never encounter any failures. But we would also miss out on so many opportunities.
View failing as a positive experience, as it shows you tried — which in and of itself is more than most people will do.
Here’s an idea: Celebrate your failures!
Wow, that’s not normal! I’m serious, though! Celebrate your failures, because it gives you the perspective to succeed in the future and it also give you a privilege of being in a state of mind to learn the most. The beautiful thing is if you don’t learn from failures, then you’ll be destined to repeat them.
The prospect who rejects you and even goes out of their way to refer to you and your company in a negative manner might be considered a failure. In my mind, it’s actually a positive because you get to learn from it. Go right back out and prospect again.
Don’t use failure purely as a reason to keep changing what you’re doing, but instead use failure as a way to build your own confidence and commitment to succeed.
This week I’m expecting to encounter at least one failure and that doesn’t concern me in the least.
I’ll use the failure to toughen my confidence and learn something I can then apply to help me better next week.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
