Get Past Your FEARS

Often I talk about passing through your fears. Les Brown, a great inspirational speaker, in many of his talks he speaks about fear. He says to his listeners "Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway®. 

Fear is a filthy word and most of us use any kind of justifications, excuses or circumstances to hide it, cover it or disguise it. 

In Les Brown's own words, in this short video, he talks about getting past your fears:

For many of us it is that awful gremlin with which we play hide and seek. When we dig a little deeper and question our behaviour, we will confess that fear is an emotion driving negative consequences in many areas of our wonderful life.

Accept you have fears and only then you will pass through them.

Learn to accept your fear in order to pass through them. Click here to contact In Learning to attend a workshop on "Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway®.

You should NEVER set Sales TARGET

“Sales“ is an astonishing field no matter which industry you belong to. There is a notion amongst buyers that most salespeople are liars. In fact when I talk to salespeople most salespeople feel and believe they are liars. I would imagine with such a thought a sales person would come across numerous challenges when selling.

Anyways, let me focus on the topic in hand and that is sales TARGET. We all know in sales the importance of having a TARGET. The whole purpose of a setting sales TARGET is to reward an individual’s performance and more importantly it is there to help a business plan its growth. So, having a sales TARGET is crucial to the success of the individual and certainly the business.

Yet through numerous interactions with sales people I discovered that most of sales people hate sales TARGET. In fact if it were up to them they would get rid of the darn sales TARGET. On closer examination it was evident it was the word TARGET that scared them more. In fact most felt whenever someone says TARGET in any context they only relate it to sales. It is interesting how the word TARGET has such a strange effect on them.

When asked how come they hate the word TARGET or are scared (frightened, worried, nervous) of it I get responses such as:

•  “The word feels as if I have to shot someone with an arrow or a gun”.
•  “I feel as if I am part of a firing squad, out there to execute people”.
•  “I really feel threatened as if I am attacking someone with a weapon”.

The list is endless and I am sure you get the message. This is one of the reasons I strongly believe sales is all about Soul Based Service Excellence, which not about a transaction, it is about creating a positive customer service experience for your customer.

When we look at the word TARGET it means as per http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/:

• A person, object, or place selected as the aim of an attack. For example the airport terminal was the target of a bomb or a military target. 
• A mark or point at which one fires or aims, especially a round or rectangular board marked with concentric circles used in archery or shooting
• A person or thing against whom criticism or abuse is directed

Just looking at these definitions will make you wonder how crazy we are to use the word TARGET when it comes to sales.  Firstly, most buyers view salespeople as liars and secondly, these liars have been given targets. Now that comes across as very negative and dangerous.

The question arises what could we replace this sales TARGET with so that the stress, worry, pressure is minimised for the sales person thus allowing the sales person to perform in a productive manner to achieve great sales.

Here are a few options to consider rather then saying TARGET:

1. The first word comes to mind is AIM. Although it could mean determine a course, direct an effort or propose to do something but it also could mean direct a weapon. So, we possibly could be going in circles with this one.
2. Then the word GOAL comes to mind. This means purpose toward which an endeavour is directed; an objective. This certainly is a strong contender for a replacement word.
3. I read somewhere to use the term MINIMUM ACCEPTABLE SALES PERFORMANCE. This is an interesting concept and could certainly work.
4. PURPOSE is another word, which would mean to an intended or desired result. And we know is sales we are looking for a desired result.
5. The word DESTINATION seems very interesting. When we look at this word it means place to which one is going or directed, purpose for which something is destined or a place worthy of travel. Certainly, we could uses this as a replacement as now we are on a journey and we all know journeys can be extremely adventurous, especially in sales.

The above is just some food for thought. You may have your own thoughts on what would be a suitable replacement and if so please share it with me by emailing me on rohit@in-learning.com.

Replace your TARGET with one of the above or something you feel comfortable with. You will certainly see the emotional state of yourself and your team change to a positive one. This will surely lead them to focus on the customer needs and wants rather than seeing a customer as a TARGET. Because with a replacement in place with ease and comfort you and your team will perform in a positive productive manner to achieve awesome sales.

Want to excel in sales? Click here to see In Learning offers trainings in powerful selling skills.  

Stop Hoping - Trust & Wonder

Ever since a child most of us have been taught to have hope. Hope for a better day. Hope for a better life. Hope to have a loving spouse and kids. Hope to be wealthy. Hope to have great health. There are so many other hopes you can think of.

Well, hope is great to have but there is one major flaw with this. Without us knowing we start getting attached to these hopes thus sabotaging our own growth. You know that your attachments become your greatest fear.

The person who brought this to my realisation was Dr.Susan Jeffers. When I read this for the first time I was in disbelief. My reaction was simply that what was being said was absolutely absurd. That was in 2012 and since then I have abandoned that word. When delivering a number of my workshops I bring this up and to begin with most people resist this notion.

As I go through an exercise designed by Dr.Susan Jeffers called "From Hope to Wonder" a shift starts to happen with most of the people undergoing this simple yet effective exercise.In fact another way to look at this is to go "From Hope to Trust".  A few actually resist it more as they are strongly stuck in the belief of hope. I simply let them be as that is their perception. 

Now, here is an easy way to look at "From Hope to Wonder" and "From Hope to Trust" 

• Hope is equivalent of wishing, wanting, desiring or expectation
• This thinking in terms of of hope could easily lead to a state of unhappiness
• Furthermore, hope has the ability to create a fear of uncertainty
• Hope certainly is far better than pessimism
• Magic of wonder takes the fear of uncertainty to be replaced by curiosity
• Magic of trust gives you the inner confidence and knowing all is well, you can handle it
• When thinking in terms of wonder and trust it removes the sentiment of wishing, wanting, desiring and expectation
• Trust and wonder neutralises both hoping and pessimism

All I can ask you is do your best at changing your state from hope to wonder, from hope to trust. In fact, you would start attaining the state of inner peace once you start this simple powerful journey.

Trust you will have a great journey with wonder, have a leap of faith.

Powerful Words: Use with Caution

We are always communicating. Even, our act of silence is a form of communicating.

Verbal, non-verbal, vocal or written for all of this we use words. Words are extremely powerful which can lead to creating, developing and growing a relationship. On the other hand words can be destructive and can easily sabotage and kill a relationship. 

This relationship could be with your sister, brother, mother, father, friends, work people or your lover. The most important of all the relationship is the relationship with yourself. 

So, even in our silence we have our inner voices that talk to us and say things to us. These inner voices use words with us to communicate with us, these are our inner thoughts.

We should be more aware of what we say to others and to ourselves with these words. Some words are extremely powerful and should be used cautiously. These common words we use day to day without realising they cause more damage than helping us and others. 

These words being:

• But – "You look beautiful but....". Notice how the "but" immediately deletes what was said before it. "But" is the sledgehammer to anything you say. It has the ability to diminish or negate the phrase that precedes it. Note "however" is soft way to say but, so should be avoided as well. Instead replace the "but" with an “and”. 

• Should – "You should have...." . Amazing how "should" arouses a sense of feeling guilty. It's one of the worst words to use in scenarios where the solution applied has not worked. Then someone says "we should" or even worse "you should". 

• Don't –  "Don't think of a pink elephant". I am sure you thought of an elephant or pink colour or thought how will a pink elephant look like. The brain finds it difficult to process something said in the negative. It has to do that act to comprehend what "don't" meant. So, if you end your email saying "do not hesitate to contact me" then you are really telling the person not to contact them. Maybe you could replace this with "feel free to contact me"

• Try – is consider a disguised word for failing. "Try" is seeking or giving the permission to fail. Remember Nike slogan “just do it”.  You replace the "try" with "do your best" or "I will do my best".

• Why – this word easily makes a person feel defensive and find justifications for his/her actions. Instead use the word “how” or “and”.

Words can make you move backwards or forwards. Be selective in the words you use with others and especially the words you use with yourself.

Attachment Could Be Your Greatest FEAR

We all are attached to someone or something. Attachment to our work, family, lover, friends, and much more. Many of us identify ourselves through such attachment. 

A number of us are aware of this but still have been unable to fathom the damage this attachment can cause us. The underlying fact is we deny that we are in a state of fear within us thus to cover this fear up we have attachment to something or someone.

It is like the chain and ball effect, something we are unable to see yet deep within ourselves we know the existence of this.

Recently, I read that “attachment is an emotional connection. Attachment involves being dependent on something for emotional, mental or physical reasons."

What attachment of yours is actually a fear for you?