32: When your back is against the wall

When you're under pressure and your back is against the wall, how do you respond? Stay tuned for some tips on how to do it better.

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welcome to the bite size sales podcast where we believe that sales is the most important team and a B2B company, that the sales team deserves great sales skills training but usually doesn't get it and that taking bite-size steps each day to get better at your craft is the best way to improve results. I am your host, Andrew Monahan , and I'm using my experiences in B2B sales to bring you simple, actionable ideas every day to help you get better.

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to episode 32 and welcome back. If you're listening to this and in sequence in real time, welcome back from Thanksgiving break. Hopefully you're refreshed and ready to go again for the push towards the end of the quarter. So in the past when your back is being against the wall and things haven't been going so well, how did you respond? What was your natural inclination to deal with that? Did you find yourself sinking into a bit of despair? Did you see the world where everything is negative and it gets you down? Or did you find that you came up fighting and figure out a way to keep moving forward? You know, we all respond in different ways and you know, in sales we're more resilient than most people, but we've all experienced these situations where things don't go according to plan and frankly coming up for the end of the quarter into the year here is bound to happen again. Right? We've, I'm sure we've all had situations where nothing is, seems like nothing is going our way. Right. Our prospecting doesn't produce results and you don't get through to people and it's something that your message and the way you talk doesn't resonate. You find that your best deals are being stalled for things that you believe are out of your control. Um, and deals are being lost to the competition, you know, surprises come run, things like that. And then coming up to the end of the quarter, end of the year, right. You , I'm sure we've all been there where you're trying to get those last couple of POS in, or I get the contract signed and they don't seem to be happening, picking off. And you're not sure if they're gonna come in and some do and frankly, some don't. Right? That's the nature of the world that we're in. Um, it happens all the time and we feel the pressure come onto us when it happens. But these are the times when we're challenged as salespeople. This is where our resilience comes through. It's where we stand up taller than, than other people and keep working to fix things and get things moving forward. And one of the great things to do if you do find yourself being dragged down by this is to take a step back and reconnect to your why. You know, going back to why you're doing this, what big things are going to happen in your life if you keep being successful in this world of sales, you can draw from your inner strength and your inner beliefs when you connect back to your why. Um, you know, one of the things that , uh, I talked to people about when I'm coaching them is when they say they're overwhelmed, one of the little tricks to do is to get out of the office, get out of the home office where you are, where you are, and just do something silly. And I mean, I've , I've heard one psychologist talk about being reconnected to being your kid self again, doing something silly. You know, I dunno , riding a bike of a jump or swinging off a tree, I don't know what it isn't in your world, but just something that's silly because of that just takes you out of the overwhelm, takes you out of this pressure situation where your back's against the wall and allows you just to kind of free yourself from , from that thinking. Um, and it's also in these times, frankly, when it's really useful to have surrounded yourself with more positive and go forward type people, right? If you're in the world where you know the people around you are more positive and they can see the light and they help you see the light and they can help you move forward, keep moving forward, you know , um, continuous forward momentum , uh , is the way to think about it. These people in your life will help you get there. These are the people with the energy, right? They'll give you energy as well and uh, they'll, they'll come through for you and you'll show others the strength and resilience that you have yourself. Um, you know, in , in our , in, you know, any human right, we get introverts. People are more introverted and those that are more extroverted, and this is one of the times to think about what you are and then feed what you are, right? So if you're more introverted, go and do something on your own, right? Take the time to recharge in, in a room, on your own, wherever that might be, whether you have to go off and swing from a tree on your own, whether you have to go off and drive around the block, something like that. That just gives you something that gives you your strength like that. If you're an extrovert, you don't want to do that and you aren't going in a room or a situation when there's tons of people, right? They're going to give you that , that energy as you, as you go run them. And sometimes just as little bolt of energy either from your introversion or extroversion is what can help you right through the storm. When you , when you feel like your backs against the wall and you're looking to Climat and you're looking to be resilient , um, and above all, you know is still yourself or these situations will happen and be ready to respond. Assume that things might go wrong with your deals as we come through to the end of the quarter here , um, no one is going to happen, so just don't be shocked when it does happen. Um, and try and plan to say, you know what, if this deal could go sideways, where is it going to go sideways and what can I do right now to try and stop it from going sideways? But also just imagine there's going to be things that come up you haven't thought about and your ability to be resilient, your ability to respond properly and keep moving forward is what's going to get you through to get the results that you want to achieve at the end of the year.

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The episode is sponsored by unstoppable dot du . Most sales teams are not trained effectively in the skills and mindset they deserve and these are the most important people in the company. It's no wonder that only about 50% of reps make quarter every year. Unstoppable is a service that helps sellers and leaders get great at the skills and mindset they need without taking time out of the field. It exists because if the sales team has the right skills and mindset, they thrive, they are confident

and they perform much better. Find out more and even get a free sales book@bitesizesales.com and now to wrap up as TJ Cooley VP role

wide sales at stack rocks may or may not have one said training with our implementation is just entertainment and prepare entertainment when Monaghan does it. So make sure you take action on what you learn and keep getting better every day. This world does not need more sales BS, so don't create anymore . Be great at the fundamentals. Be honest, be real. Be yourself. Just do not be us. And finally, I'm setting off as the great Joe Sexton would by saying, gone to sell

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