Stop Sabotaging Yourself and Get Into Action!

Whenever we step into something new or take on something we’ve never done before, it’s not uncommon to experience fear. It could be the fear of failure, fear of rejection, or fear of success. The fear can manifest itself in different ways that we’re not always aware of. Some signs of hidden fear are: Procrastination, distraction, excuses, feeling stuck, feeling overwhelm, negative beliefs, worried, and anxious.

Let me share a story of a client and how she dealt with her fear. Maybe you’ll see yourself in this story.

Christina came to me because she had started a new business, and was not taking the steps to get it off the ground. She’s extremely talented and had huge success in her corporate position. She had enough of the corporate world and was eager to start her own business. She had no problem creating new ideas for her boss and presenting to vendors, but when it came to promoting herself and her business to others, suddenly she was stuck.

Christina had made a list of people to contact. These were people she knew and could possibly help her. When I asked her why she wasn’t following up with these people, her response was, “Well, they told me they would call me and since they never returned my calls, I assumed they’re not interested.” I asked her, “Did they tell you they’re not interested?” She responded “No, I just assumed they weren’t interested since they didn’t call back.”

In reality, she didn’t know why they weren’t calling her back. She had made up a story and was stopped because she believed her story was true. Christina was transferring her own thoughts, beliefs and perceptions onto these people. And, the more she listened to her own thoughts, the more she believed they were true.

I suggested to Christina there might be others reasons they’re not calling her back. They could be either busy or away.

She realized these excuses and reasons for not calling these people were also covering up her fear of rejection. What if they don’t want to help me? What if they’re not interested? As long as she believed these thoughts to be true, nothing would change and her business would suffer.

Once she distinguished her fear of failing was a self-imposed negative belief and not the truth, she began to feel freed up. The fear no longer had to keep her stopped. She knew she had created these self-limiting thoughts and they were not true. We took the negative thoughts and reframed them into positive thoughts. And every time the fear would come up, Christina would shift her thinking to a powerful, positive thought. This took practice but over time it became a new habit and easy to do. We then created a step-by-step plan and she got into action. What followed was amazing!

Christine was re-energized and ready to go forward. She contacted all the people on her list, completed her website, and started sending out letters introducing her services. The positive responses she received from people she had reached out to helped her to feel more confident and gave her more clarity on the direction of her business. And, the best news is two companies she had contacted have expressed interest in hiring her. These results happened when Christina identified the fear that had been holding her back, realized she had created the negative thoughts and changed her thoughts, created an action plan, and then got into action.

Your Assignment:

• When you feel stopped, step away from your office and spend quiet time with yourself.
• Write down all the thoughts you’re having at this time.
• Then ask yourself, “Did I make up these thoughts?”
• Write down the answer next to each thought. You’ll see that many of these thoughts are made up by you.
• Write down the steps you can take NOW to get you into action.
• Visualize yourself being in action and how it feels.
• Write down the date you will take action and the outcome you want to achieve. (Example: I will call Jim on Monday and he will be happy to hear from me, or he'll have someone to refer me to.)

If you would like to use this article on your website, or for your own ezine, not a problem; however, there’s one thing you MUST include: Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit http://www.salesbreakthroughs.com/.

The Sales are in the Follow-Up

One of the most effective ways in getting more business is following up with the prospect. Sadly, 80% of sales opportunities are missed because people do not follow up consistently. Studies have shown that most prospects, who do not buy short-term, usually make a purchase within 12 months. When they make the purchase, it's going to be with the person who stays in touch with them on a consistent basis. Prospects do business with people they know, trust, and who understand their needs.

Some of the reasons salespeople don't follow up are:

• There is no organized system in place.
• They're afraid they'll appear too pushy.
• They're afraid they'll be rejected.
• They don't know what to say.
• They call once or twice, and move on to the next thing.

Here's the good news—although for some of you it may seem like bad news! It takes 7-10 follow-ups to close the sale. Yes, that's the truth. So if you're routinely giving up after 2-3 tries, you're giving up way too soon. They may not be ready to buy from you now, but if you remain fresh in their minds you'll be the one they'll buy from when they are ready.

Here are 6 easy and simple ways for turning follow-up into sales:

1. Create Follow-Up Systems
   Select a follow-up system for tracking your accounts that works for you. There are several systems that help you track your accounts efficiently and effectively.

• A personal computer. There are contact management programs designed for organizing and tracking your accounts. ACT, Goldmine and Outlook have contact management programs.
• A notebook. Use a single sheet in your notebook for each client and enter the dates of your calls along with notes. Keep your top 10-20 hot prospects in the front of your notebook, alphabetized by client name.
• The old-fashion tickler system. Set up your folders numerically by dates starting with 1-31. Use a single sheet for each new prospect, and write down the name, phone numbers, address, email address, and any pertinent notes about the account. Then file it in your tickler file system by date of your next contact with them.
• A business card file. Although the space is limited, you can write tiny notes on the card. The card file can be used before information is entered on computer.

2. Follow-Up Sales Tools
   It's pretty standard to use the telephone and e-mail for those 7-10 follow-ups with a prospect. Begin to embrace other ways of staying visible to the prospect over a period of time.
   
   Some other tools that work are sending letters, faxes, brochures and literature. Be creative and use testimonial letters from satisfied clients, invite them to a seminar or to lunch, send them a small item with your company name printed on it, or if appropriate, give tickets to a sports event, the theater or a seminar.
3. Touch Base Email
   It may take 7-10 touches to close the business, so don’t give up. Writing a “soft” touch base email is a non-pressure way of letting prospects know you’re thinking of them.
   
   Email the prospect you are thinking of them. Remind them they did express interest in your product or service. Let them now you’d be happy to meet and specify a time you’re available to talk. Let them know if they’re not ready that it’s perfectly fine with you, and you’re there for them when they are.
4. Personalize Your Follow Up
   There are numerous ways to personalize your follow-up contact with the prospect. You can write a hand-written note thanking them for the meeting, or inviting them to meet for coffee or lunch. A hand-written note is a personal touch the prospect will appreciate in a world that’s becoming more and more electronic.
5. Develop the Habit of Persistence
   The key ingredient to effective follow-up is persistence. Persistence with the right attitude leads to more business. With persistence, obstacles and problems can't stop you and most importantly, other people can't stop you.
   
   Your ability to follow up will determine your success in sales.
6. Don't Get Stopped by NO
   You have to be willing to do what it takes to move past the seventh "no" or "I'm not ready yet" to get the sale. A "no" is nothing personal. The prospect is saying "no" to the product, not to you. Think about the fact that when you really want something important to you, nothing stands in the way. Why not bring those same qualities to your business? How many "No's" are you willing to take before you give up the sale?

ASSIGNMENT:

• Make a list of prospects you’ve met with, who expressed interest but did not buy from you. They may have told you they weren’t ready or maybe didn’t even tell you why.
• Select one of the follow-up systems to track your prospects. Then set up a schedule of dates when you'll be following up with them and enter those dates in your system.
• Select any of the sales tools listed and decide when you'll use these tools.
• Send “soft touch base” emails to these prospects. Make sure the email you write is friendly, brief and non-pressuring.
• Write a personal hand-written note to several prospects letting them know you enjoyed meeting them and invite them to meet for coffee or tea.
• Be organized, creative, and persistent and don't get stopped by "No." Remember it takes 7-10 follow-ups to close the sale!

If you would like to use this article on your website, or for your own ezine, not a problem; however, there’s one thing you MUST include: Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit http://www.salesbreakthroughs.com/.