How to deal with the 6 biggest fears that salespeople have

Conquer your sales fears and elevate your career with insights from my 30 years of experience in sales and training. Discover how to transform rejection from a personal setback into a simple communication hiccup, and learn strategies that will help you break free from the fear of failing to meet sales targets. This episode is designed to empower you with practical techniques to boost your confidence and success in the competitive sales landscape.

We tackle the fear of appearing pushy and being judged as incompetent, offering valuable advice on maintaining genuine client conversations while respecting their timelines. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, this episode will equip you with the mindset and tools needed to thrive. Join me in navigating these common challenges with our new course, Consultative Selling, crafted to turn obstacles into opportunities for growth and success.

Chapters

• 0:00 Overcoming Salespeople's Top Fears
• 12:36 Conquering Salesperson's Common Fears

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

Hello again. I thought that for this podcast, I'd talk about six of the biggest fears that most people have most salespeople have, I should say, and I have spoken about this before in another podcast. But I want to talk this time about these fears in the context of a course that I offer, so that's called Consultative Selling. Right now, as I record this, in the sort of last part of November 2024, I'm in the process of launching a beta version of the program. So the program is pretty much written, it's there, but it's more a case of fine tuning it and I'm looking for a few people to basically go through that process and give me feedback. But one of the things that I really wanted to focus on in this course is to focus on the biggest fears that most salespeople have, and I'll tell you what the six are that I've got here, just my list. So the first one is fear of rejection. The second is fear of failure. The third is fear of not closing deals. The fourth is fear of appearing pushy or aggressive. The fifth is the fear of being seen as incompetent and finally, the sixth is the fear of being judged or rejected by colleagues. So I don't know if you can relate to any of these and I don't know where you are, where you're at in your sales career and how things are going for you, but if they're not going too well, I'm pretty sure that at least one of these will resonate with you. So I'm going to talk very briefly about each of the six and I will say that the whole purpose really of putting a sales training program together because you may not know, but I used to be a sales trainer and prior to that I was a salesperson in my own right for about 30 years sales manager and also a general manager of a small company in Australia. So I've got quite a lot of background, quite a lot of experience with selling and also with coaching people and teaching people how to sell, and these are definitely, I think, valid things because they come up pretty frequently.

Speaker 1: 2:28

So let's just look first of all at the fear of rejection. This often comes up as the number one fear that most salespeople have and really it comes down to the fear of hearing a no when you go for the order, and obviously that can be demoralizing and discouraging, and the more often it happens, obviously the more discouraging and the more demoralizing it gets and that can lead to anxiety, it can lead to a loss of confidence. You get into a negative spiral and I think that's true to a greater or less degree, with all of these fears. So I just want to talk very briefly about the fear of rejection. So, first of all, fear of rejection is absolutely normal. It's one of the core fears we have as people we generally have. There's some sort of fundamental fears that we have fear of not being loved, fear of not belonging, and fear of rejection is definitely one of those fears. So sales is one of those activities, if you like, that really brings that fear to the fore, because, if you think about it, every time we go into a meeting, every time we make a phone call, we're almost inviting that person that we're speaking with to reject us. So you do need to develop a little bit of a thick skin around rejection, which is easy enough to say, but doing it is quite the trick. So perhaps the best way to approach rejection is to really reframe it, in other words, look at it from a different direction. So the first thing I would say is don't take it personally.

Speaker 1: 4:19

When you are selling, you're in a professional role and you're offering a solution to your client's problem and, depending on how well you've defined that problem in the first place and how well you can deliver a solution, how good your solution is for that particular client, that will to some extent dictate the likelihood that you're going to get a no. But the reality is you will get no's from time to time and the best way to handle them first of all, don't take them personally, treat them as a miscommunication. Let's say, if you're pretty convinced that your solution will meet your client's needs, then probably the reason you're getting a no, one of the reasons might be that you've just miscommunicated somewhere or you've misunderstood. So when you get a no, the first thing to do is just to get the client to expand on what the no is all about. What is it about the solution that you're proposing that they're not happy with? And then dive into that and just get some clarification, because that typically is what's happened. Another reason you might get a no is no doesn't mean no, absolutely not. No means not at the moment, so it could just be a timing thing. So look, obviously in the course that I've been speaking about, I'll explore that in a lot more detail, but these are just two very quick ways of looking at a no in a slightly different way. That means you don't have to take this on board as a personal rejection and as some sort of personal failure.

Speaker 1: 6:03

Having said that, I'll come on to number two fear of failure. So this is very closely related to the fear of rejection. Failure often and it might be something different for you, but often it relates to not meeting sales targets, not hitting quotas, basically not hitting the level of success which, in sales, is usually the number of orders or the value of the orders that your company or your business is expecting whether it's your own business or somebody else's that you're working in is expecting, whether it's your own business or somebody else's that you're working in and once again, that leads to feelings of self-doubt, of not being good enough. Maybe you are thinking you shouldn't be in this job at all. So it is again another tricky one to handle and again, I think the best way to handle this and it is something that I talk about in the training course as well, and we go through a lot of techniques to help you to be successful in sales so failure stops being such a likely outcome.

Speaker 1: 7:09

But it's quite natural to fear failure, particularly if you're new to sales, because if you're new to sales the chances are you're stepping outside of your comfort zone. You're developing a lot of new skills. You're developing them in an environment which is live. You are dealing with real clients. They're real deals and there is a real possibility, whether it's big or small, that particular deal won't come in. And sales is quite a public role to be working. If you're doing well, everyone knows. If you're doing badly, everyone knows. So it's good to recognize and, I think, acknowledge that what you're doing is very public in that sense and that most other people in the business that you're in if there are other people in it, if they have a bad day or things don't go well for a little while, it's probably less obvious, whereas with salespeople, sales is the lifeblood of the business. So if it's starting to go badly, it gets very public.

Speaker 1: 8:16

So I think a piece of advice I can offer if you are in that situation, if you're starting to fear or feel fearful about what's going on with your sales performance, the thing to do is to try and step back from it. If you're in that kind of headspace and that emotional state of being stressed, of being very fearful, it tends to be something that multiplies the longer it goes on. So the best way to handle it is to step back and first of all, look at what you can do to help alleviate the situation. It may be that there's somebody else maybe a sales manager or somebody else you can bring into a few meetings with you just to help you out a bit, maybe give you some live coaching, if you're in that kind of an environment. If you're not in that environment, then I definitely recommend getting some sort of training just to help you.

Speaker 1: 9:08

But I always recommend with salespeople that after a meeting, particularly if you feel it's gone badly, you just step back from it and just look at the meeting step by step which parts went well, because some parts probably did go well and which parts didn't go so well. So with the parts that went well, we tend to focus on the negative, but in doing that we tend to miss the positives, and that's really important to acknowledge. And then with the parts that didn't go so well, what would you have done differently If you could go back in and do that meeting again? What would you do differently? And so what takeaways can you get from that meeting? So it is a process. It is something that takes work. It's often consistent work over periods. So just turn it around if a fear of failure is really limiting your results. But just acknowledge that everyone goes through that. Everyone has bad patches, and the important thing is not to treat that as normal, just to step back. Don't get too caught up in it and don't let it become your identity. That's another important thing.

Speaker 1: 10:15

Okay, fear of not closing deals is the third fear, and for a lot of people, the pressure to close a deal and convert leads into hard sales is actually quite intense. And if that's the situation that you're in, obviously there can be a constant worry about not being able to finalise agreements, and that again can lead to feelings of inadequacy, frustration. Again, you go into that downward spiral. So the important thing to do, I think, is again to step back and look at what the problem is. What's happening? Why aren't you closing deals? Is it to do with qualification? Are you talking to the right people? A big mistake that a lot of salespeople make, particularly when they're struggling, is they'll try and sell to anybody and not their ideal client, their avatar. So it's really important that you know who your solution is best suited for and that you focus on identifying and spending time with those people and not people who, frankly, are never going to buy from you.

Speaker 1: 11:22

So if you have a fear of not closing deals, one of the things I can recommend is to just step back Again. Look at who you're talking to. Are you talking to the right people? And the other thing I'd recommend is to look at your closing process. Are you closing too early? Are you closing at all? Because some salespeople something like 60% of salespeople don't even ask for the order. So if you are closing, are you closing at the right time? And what I mean by that is have you understood what your client is trying to achieve? Have you shown them you can deliver the solution that they're looking for, and are they ready to move forward with you? A lot of people go too early. They haven't fully explored what the client wants to do. Some people don't even understand what it is the client's trying to do. So that's a really difficult one, but again in the course. So I'm not going to do a short podcast like this, I'm not going to go into it, but there are particular techniques that I take you through, particular sequences you can use that make closing really easy and it's actually kind of fun.

Speaker 1: 12:36

So number four is fear of appearing pushy or aggressive. So none of us wants to be the sleazy salesperson. Now, some of this will depend upon where you are. So, without hitting stereotypes, if you're in the UK, for example, where politeness is more of a thing than, dare I say, if you're in the US, where people tend to be a bit more forthright, if you're in an environment or a culture where people tend to be polite, then a lot of salespeople just have a real fear of coming across as too aggressive, too pushy, and that can hold them back. So one of the things, one of the ways that shows itself, is a fear of being persistent. They feel they're being too persistent when they're asking for business and that they might drive people away. So the first thing I would say is don't be pushy, just be yourself. Have a conversation with the client.

Speaker 1: 13:38

Usually, where the pushiness comes in is people. One of the areas there's two, really one is that the salesperson tries to close way too early. They clearly haven't been listening to the client. Your client wants to feel heard. They want to feel that you understand, that you have a genuine interest in solving their problem for them. So make sure they feel that way, and you can do that by having a really good conversation with them about what the problems are that they're trying to solve and then talking through how your solution can give them a solution, something that they're looking for. The other place that it tends to come out is just being a bit pushy on the order. So, as I say, there are techniques you can use that make that really easy.

Speaker 1: 14:22

What I'll say on the persistent side is sometimes it's good to be persistent and I grew up in the UK so I can definitely relate to this. Consistent, and I grew up in the UK so I can definitely relate to this. But I'd like to ask once and then hope they're going to give me the answer I want. But honestly, you have to remember that people are generally pretty busy. It might be that what they're trying, the problem they're trying to solve, is really urgent, in which case you're likely to get an answer pretty quickly, but if it's less urgent, or they have other things going on, or if they have to get budget approved or whatever else it might be, they may not be able to give you an answer immediately, and then life goes on and they might forget simply, and it's your job to just remind them that they still have this problem to fix.

Speaker 1: 15:07

So one thing I will give you as a tip if you have a delivery time, if you're physically delivering something, then it's good to work in a lead time and find out when your client needs this particular item delivered. So let's say, they need it in four weeks time. If your lead time is two weeks, that means you have to receive the order by them within the next two weeks in order to deliver when they need it. So I have always been upfront about those kind of things and I will contact people and remind them and say, look, I'm just getting in touch because at the moment we've got plenty of time to get this order. And if you can get it to me in the next few days, we're all good. But if you leave it much longer, there is a real danger that we won't be able to meet your delivery date. So that may be helpful, but it's another way of just applying a little bit of pressure to get your client to take action.

Speaker 1: 16:02

And there's nothing wrong with that, because you'll probably know when you've gone to buy something. You might've spoken to somebody about the purchase you were planning to make, and then all sorts of other things crop up and you just completely forget about it. It's not that you don't want to make the purchase anymore, it's just simply that it's gone out of your head. It's not the most urgent thing you have to deal with. Okay, fear of being seen as incompetent is number five, and what I mean by that is often and this is particularly true, I think, of people who are newer to a sales role. They're frightened of walking into a customer, being asked questions and not knowing the answer, and that can result in them not being able to identify the client's needs properly. So the point is you probably are. Look, you may or may not be knowledgeable enough for the client.

Speaker 1: 17:00

When I was, the first few sales jobs I had actually were quite technical, and while I had a reasonable technical understanding, I could only go so far, and the truth was that most of my clients probably knew the technology In fact, I would say definitely knew the technology that they were working on in a much more deeper way than I did. So I would often have to sell gear that I knew how to work it and I knew essentially what it did, but once you got beyond a certain point, I really couldn't comment too much. So the way I dealt with that was, first of all, to let myself off the hook, and that was simply by saying that I don't need I don't have all of the answers, I don't need all of the answers. So what happened when a client asked me a question that I didn't know the answer to? Well, all I would do was write it down. I would get them to read what I'd written to make sure I'd got the question correct, and then I would pass it back to somebody who knew the technology in a much greater depth than I did now.

Speaker 1: 18:04

Often in some of the roles I had, I was working for companies that weren't based in the same country. I was For a while, for a few years, I worked in Australia and I worked for local agents. So the manufacturer, and therefore the technical expertise, might be in the US or the UK or somewhere else, which meant that because of the time difference, I often couldn't get an immediate answer. So all I would do is go through that process of getting the question and just say, look, I don't know the answer to that, I'm going to have to go back to the company whatever to get an answer for you Now, wherever they're located, and what I'll do. I will send that question up to them after our meeting, and I hope to get an answer back overnight. I'll express that it's urgent if it is urgent, it may not be and then I will get back to you by midday tomorrow, and you simply agree a time where you can call them back and let them have the answer.

Speaker 1: 19:05

And the important thing, though, is to always call them back even if you don't have the answer, or it might be that the answer isn't the one you wanted. So, look, it might kill the deal. If it does, it does, but do be as good as your word. It's really important to under-promise and over-deliver, as the phrase goes. And then, finally, the fear of being judged or rejected by colleagues, and some sales teams can be quite competitive, and I've definitely felt that as a salesperson where I felt that I might be judged by my peers or my manager if I'm struggling a little bit, and the problem is that that tends to drive up your stress levels, particularly if you know you've got a sales meeting coming up and you're going in to try and close a deal. It's not going well and you can feel all the stress building and you can just see the sales meeting and having to report bad figures again. So what's the answer to that? Well, look, some of it is environment. If you're in that sort of environment, the chances are it's not a particularly healthy environment. The other thing to remember is that we all have good times and bad times, as I've already said. Salespeople who've been in sales for a while will have experienced that. Hopefully they're generous enough to you to recognize that that's what's going on.

Speaker 1: 20:34

It may be that you just need to ask for some help if you're in an environment where you can get help. It may be that you just go out with a colleague. It could be an official thing. Go through your manager. If you have a good relationship with one of your colleagues, just say to them look, is there any chance we could just go and do a customer meeting? Or if I could join you on a customer meeting Just to get new ideas or get feedback anything you can do. The reason I suggest it is that in the end, it's in everybody's best interest, because if the team is performing well, you know the business is doing well, everybody's happy.

Speaker 1: 21:10

If one salesperson is underperforming, it's far, far easier and cost effective to train them, to just correct, or coach them to correct the issues, than it is to replace them. That's a very disruptive and expensive thing to do, so always bear that in mind. But for you personally, if you're having to deal with that, look, I'm just trying to think of the right phrase I can use to record a podcast, but I can't think of one. So some people are just, you know, a-holes, to use a phrase. And look, all I can say is, if you're in a bad environment where you can't get help, it is good if you can get external help. And this is where it might be worth investing in the kind of sales course I offer, because that starts from scratch, basically breaks everything down and starts again from how to approach everything, so that you get the best chance of getting really good results. But yeah, try not to buy into it. Just recognize that there are ups and downs and if you are just consistently struggling, then just step back. Do the kind of thing that I've already suggested Look at who you're talking to.

Speaker 1: 22:19

Are you talking to your avatar? Are these the kind of people that are likely to buy from you? If they are then great. Look at what went wrong. What are you doing well? What's going not so well? What can you do differently? And just go through each one like that. And the truth is, if you're persistent with that, if you just step back, be objective about it, don't get emotional, don't start putting yourself down or beating yourself up or whatever it might be, because if you do that you won't get out of it. You'll become a victim to the whole situation. So drop the victim thing. Just take control of it and say, ok, I need to sort this out. What was good, what was bad, what can I learn? What can I do differently next time? Ok, so I hope you found that useful and good luck with your selling, and I hope to speak to you soon. And don't forget the training course. Ok, bye for now.