confidence [kon-fi-duhns] -noun 1. belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities. 2. The state of mind characterized by one’s reliance on himself, or his circumstances; a feeling of self-sufficiency; such assurance as leads to a feeling of security; self-reliance

Successful sales people share many of the various sales traits; however there is one that you will find in every successful sales person - Confidence. This week we will look at this key characteristic in its various forms and stages and how confidence, if developed effectively, will help you to continually grow and become more and more successful. This article may be more applicable for someone getting started, but may also have an A-ha or two for anyone.

Confidence comes in many forms; confidence in product, confidence in service, confidence in delivery, confidence in performance, confidence in warranty. But the confidence that propels someone from just being in sales to succeeding in sales is confidence in self.

It’s been my experience that the confidence cycle grows through four stages: foundational, passionate, creative and altruistic. Let’s take a closer look at each of these stages.

Whether you just got started as a commissioned sales rep, are a small business owner that also wears a sales hat, or an entrepreneur that is an expert in your field, no one gets paid until a sale is made. Getting started requires a lot of time studying your product, your service, your market and several other items that will build the confidence foundation you will need for your ability to make a sale.

While you are building your confidence foundation, you will encounter some challenges and road blocks that will try to crush your confidence. The biggest is rejection. Realize that as you are growing in your confidence, you will be rejected. However, that rejection is vital in building a strong, solid confidence. Going through the rejection gives you a basis to look back on and see that in spite of it, you were able to grow. Don’t welcome rejection, but embrace it as something that is typical at this stage and is helping you get to the next level.

This foundational type of confidence is needed to talk intelligently about your product or service. Without it, your prospects will not develop confidence in you, let alone your product or service. Once you have this foundational confidence, you begin landing a few sales here and there. As a result, you build momentum, your confidence grows and you land more and more sales.

Now that the foundation of your confidence is built and is strong, you no longer speak intelligently about your product or service. Instead, you begin to speak passionately about your product or service.

Your prospect senses your passion and the manner in which you speak about your product or service and the absolute belief that what you have is the best solution available. Your passion is transferred to your prospect and his desire to work with you and buy your product is significantly increased. As a result, you now begin to close more sales more frequently.

Now comes the fun part. Wait a minute! You’re making sales hand over fist and that isn’t the fun part!? Nope. Now you’re brimming with confidence and ready to go to the next level. This is where your creativity kicks in. Not creative? Baloney! You know your product or service inside and out, you’ve spent the last several months or years building and strengthening not only your confidence but the relationships you’ve made along the way, and you’ve worked through countless scenarios that have built the experience capital that you can draw upon.

With your creative confidence in place, you now begin creating more sales rather than making new sales. Your experiences and relationships present opportunities that you were never aware of before. You use those experiences and relationships to manufacture creative ways and opportunities to sell more and more.

The final stage of your sales confidence is altruistic, where your concern is no longer how or when you will make your next sale, but whom and how many people you can truly help by providing the best product or service. The rush you get is no longer from blowing away your monthly sales goal by the end of the second week. In this stage, the rush you get is from knowing your customer is truly better off because of what you provided.

In this final confidence stage, you also not only look for opportunities to provide to your customers, but also look for opportunities to help others in your field. The experiences and opportunities you’ve had over the years is something that you look to share with others that are growing through their own confidence cycle. The joy you get here is in seeing others coming up behind you grow, succeed and eventually join you in your confidence.

Here is the exciting part - the confidence journey is there for anyone willing to take that first step. It’s not as easy as just taking a first step, you need to commit to the journey and work your tail off along the way. But the end is definitely worth the means. The journey does not discriminate and there is plenty of room for as many people that want to go. So what do you say? Want to take a trip with me? If so, shoot me an e-mail and let me know - the more the merrier!