What’s the most important conversation we have in sales? It’s the one we have before we even speak with our customer – our self-talk – because the tone of our internal monologue can determine whether we make that sale or not.

Good self-talk helps us stay positive and responsive with our customers. But negative self-talk cuts into our confidence, and the pessimism it creates projects through our body language and tone. Who would you rather buy from? 

How’s your self-talk? Do you keep it upbeat and constructive, or do you get bogged down in head trash? As Henry Ford famously remarked, “Think you can, think you can’t; either way you’ll be right.”

It’s just common sense; a positive attitude
will reliably produce better results. And a recent study out of Stanford University revealed that a positive attitude literally makes your brain work better – so attitude also impacts achievement!

While it’s easy to be upbeat when things are going well, the real test is maintaining that positive attitude when they’re not. This is where your self-talk can either save you or sink you.

What is self-talk?

Have you ever wondered if you are the only person who talks to yourself, or if it’s even “normal”? You’re not – and it is!

While most people don’t have a dialogue with themselves out loud, all of us have some sort of self-talk taking place in our minds during our waking hours. You probably assume that the content of that ongoing monologue is out of your control, but like so much else in life, the tone you set with your self-talk is a habit, and habits can be changed once we’re aware of them.

Stop right now and take a moment to listen to what you are telling yourself as you read this. Maybe you’re thinking, “This customer meeting is going to be a waste of my time – they are not going to buy anything from me today.” That one-sided conversation you’re having is the greatest determinant of whether today’s work will be a powerful learning experience or not.

Does your self-talk support you or does that voice in your head tear down your efforts and dwell on the dark side? The truth is, you get what you expect, and if your self-talk is full of can’ts, won’ts, and nevers, your predictions are likely to come true. If you think you can’t – you’re right! We may not know how it all works, but we do know that how you talk to yourself has a tremendous impact on your life and your sales performance.

Will your self-talk help you or hurt you? That’s up to you.

Realize that when you take action to improve your self-talk, you enhance your self-image, burnish your personal brand, and kick-start your sales performance and behaviours to catapult RESULTS!

Teneo Challenge: Think about how you can improve your self-talk to be more positive.

As we move into the fall selling season, what is your self-talk to ensure you will successfully achieve your sales goals for this year?

Lisa Leitch, CSP2

Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.