Have you ever given much thought to the benefits of optimism in your sales processes?
That optimism that you have for yourself and your business is going to help you through the moments when you hear NO and when things aren’t all working perfectly.
I’ve experienced a lot of NO’s and rejections in my business. From my jobs in college, shutting down FITzee Foods after working so hard on it, I even hear NO’s today, in my job teaching sales strategies!
Have you seen punching bags that are weighted at the bottom? You can knock them down, but you can’t knock them out. The weights in the bottom of the bags help them bounce back, no matter how hard you punch them!
The benefits of optimism as a business owner can be like that stabilizing weight at the bottom of the punching bag. NO matter how many times you hear NO or experience rejection, you bounce back! You can’t help it; it just naturally happens.
Monika Kochhar, a guest on the Success Unfiltered Podcast, is the founder and CEO of Smart Gifts, a personalized gift-giving service. As she was searching for vendors to partner with their concept, she heard a lot of NO’s! But it was her unbridled enthusiasm and unwavering belief in herself and her business that kept her going even when it felt like all that she heard was NO!
I can’t make you believe in yourself. But I can offer you some tips to help you believe in yourself and build optimism and confidence regarding your business and what you have to bring to the world.
Understand What You Have to Offer
What is your business? Do you sell a service? Do you have a product? What do you do? How does it change the lives of your clients? What problems do you solve? How is it different from any other product or service out there?
When you fully understand what you have to offer, and how it can make the lives of your ideal clients better and easier, it can help you believe in yourself.
You won’t believe in yourself if you don’t know your own unique selling proposition (commonly called a USP).
If you don’t know what you have to offer, and don’t believe in what you have to offer, those NO’s will be absolutely devastating. Bouncing back will feel near impossible! This is why it is important to know the benefits of optimism for your business.
Taking the time to deeply study it, and understanding your ideal client avatar will push you towards the YES.
Understand that NO is Not Failure
NO isn’t failure: even though it often feels like it!
More often, NO is just a redirect, helping you find the direction that you are supposed to take.
Do you remember the old GPS’s back in the day? If you took a wrong turn, you’d hear a robotic voice say one word:
“Recalculating.”
Then, after “thinking” for a moment, an alternate route would pop up on the screen, ready to take you to your destination!
What would happen if you changed your mindset regarding NO’s and rejections, and instead looked at them as “recalculating”?
NO doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It just means that this isn’t the right thing at this time. Or that it’s not the correct path for you. Or that you need to evaluate what it is that you have to offer: maybe it needs some tweaking and corrections!
Whatever it is, that NO does not equal failure!
Network and Understand the Benefits of Optimism
If you are finding yourself becoming more and more discouraged in your business, and feel your excitement for selling your services is wearing thin, it might be time to call in reinforcements.
Creating a community that you can surround yourself with will help you on those days when things aren’t always going so great.
Here are a few ways that you can find people to surround yourself with to help practice positivity and help understand the benefits of optimism.
Join Local Business Groups
Does your local chamber of commerce have meetings? You can join in-person groups to find encouragement from fellow business owners. They’ve been through hard times, rejections, and failures, and know what it takes!
By joining a group like that, you have the chance to meet up regularly with others who are in the same situation as you. Through your local chamber of commerce, you may also be able to find solopreneurs, or others who are in the exact same position as you!
Network in Facebook Groups
You have to be careful with this one, because some people have bad social media habits, and find themselves endlessly scrolling and calling it “work.”
If you look for them, there are thousands of Facebook groups, groups that cater to every niche and interest ever.
You’ll be able to find so many entrepreneur groups that were created to help entrepreneurs connect globally with others who get it. You’ll be able to hear “me too!” more than ever when you share the nitty gritty details about life as an entrepreneur.
Having a bad day? Someone else will be there to remind you that tomorrow will be better! Having a good day? It’s time to encourage someone else!
Find Other Entrepreneurs on Instagram
Use the power of hashtags to find other entrepreneurs on Instagram! Instagram is a great place to find community, and through targeted hashtags, you’ll be able to find some great connections.
Hashtags on Instagram are ways that you can find others. When you click on a hashtag, you’ll be taken to a screen that shows you all the posts using that hashtag.
So for example, if you were to look at the hashtag, #successunfiltered, you’d see posts about this podcast!
Here are a few hashtags you can start following and looking at to help your mindset:
#hustletime, #askgaryvee, #successminded, #savvybusinessowners #girlbosstribe
You can use the tools around you to help you connect with others who will be able to help you become more optimistic in your business.
In Conclusion
Eternal optimism, exhilaration and unwavering belief in yourself is going to help keep you going when you hear NO’s and when times are hard in your business. While that optimism is an innate trait for many people, I do believe that you can learn to have a more optimistic approach to your life and your business.
What are some things that you do to help yourself be more optimistic? Tell us about it in the comments, you never know who needs to hear about your techniques!
