What will it take for you to not only feel confident, but also for others to view you with confidence — to trust that you genuinely are there to help them?

It doesn’t take long for us to discover that confidence plays a significant role in the world of sales.

Interestingly, the assumption is often made that if someone has chosen selling for their profession, they are “naturally” confident.

I meet salespeople all the time, though, who are not confident.  In fact, the ones who are the least confident are the people who didn’t actively choose sales as their career, but rather fell into it by default.

Regardless of how you got into sales, these truths still stand out: Confidence matters and you can learn confidence.

Here are three ways to boost your confidence:

1. Believe in your product and price.

If you don’t believe in what you sell and how it can benefit customers, your confidence will always be shaky.  If you aren’t sure how your product benefits customers, you need to ask them! Ask for feedback, and gather these testimonials so you can refer to them often.

Many people think testimonials are just used in the selling process to show prospects why they too should become customers.  But testimonials also can be a vivid reminder to you as the salesperson that what you sell does indeed positively impact lives.

In addition to believing in your product, you also must believe in your price.  If you feel you can’t make a sale without discounting, then you are lacking confidence in the price/value relationship.  In other words, you don’t think what you sell is worth full price.

Why is that?

I can’t answer this question for you, because every product and sales environment is unique.  However, you do need to dig into your particular answers, or your sales process will always be tarnished by insecurity. And the customer will not only see it, but also will capitalize on it.

Believe in your product and believe in your price.

2. Strengthen your communication skills.

If you as a salesperson do indeed believe in your product, but don’t know how to communicate that, I have some good news for you.  You can strengthen your communication skills.

Intentionally improve your listening skills and your questioning skills.  Ask a colleague to join you on a sales call and then give you honest feedback on your communication skills.

The more you can refine and strengthen your communication skills, the more comfortable you will feel in any selling situation.  This level of comfort will boost your confidence as well.

3. Reminder yourself that you don’t have to have all the answers.

Sometimes we begin to feel insecure when a customer or prospect asks us something for which we don’t have an immediate answer.

You need to reframe this scenario.  This isn’t about you not having information; it’s about you having an opportunity to better serve the customer by getting the information.

Give yourself permission to say, “That is a good question.  I don’t have the answer right now, but I am going to find it out for you.”

When you do this, you actually convey to the customer that you care enough to find the answer and you want to help them.   This in turn boosts their confidence in you!

Also, when you give yourself permission to “not know it all,” you relax and are better able to connect with your customer.  In fact, they see you as human, and that kind of realness lends itself well to authentic relationship.

Confidence is not an elusive trait that some people are born with and others don’t have.  No!

Confidence is a skill that you can develop.   In fact, it’s one of the most important skills worth developing to move you toward more success in the sales profession.

Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.