During tough times you are surrounded by bad news. Everywhere you turn, you hear negativism: the media, peers, customers, concerned family and friends, and worried management that is trying desperately to keep things afloat.
How you choose to receive and process this information determines your attitude and behavior.
A major problem that salespeople experience during tough times is that they believe everything that people tell them and allow it to influence their thinking.
You must selectively input this information. Evaluate how credible is the source? There are three types of people you must consider.
The first kind is commiserator (people who want pity or sympathy) wants information, time, and empathy. This person has concerns and uses you as a sounding board. Listen and provide only the required information to them.
Empathy is not the same thing as sympathy. Empathy is an intellectual understanding of someone’s pain. Sympathy is crying with the other person. Empathize, don’t sympathize.
The second kind is manipulator wants to use whatever means and opportunities he has available to his advantage.
Therefore, the manipulator will use negative thoughts and strategies to negotiate a hard deal with you. He may also make you feel that he care for you and doing a favor. Don’t fall for this game.
The third kind is professional pessimist has a full-time job being negative.
By his talk and with irrelevant data he will make you feel the sky is going to fall in and the next disaster is just around the corner. Don’t give this much time and attention. He is a sort of data collector and compiler to paint a scary picture of the situation.
As a Sales Person, you will surely encounter any one kind of person in your daily routine. If you are aware of them, you will form your strategy and tactics to counter them and the most important is not to get influenced by them and get distracted.
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