Belief Trumps Everything

I just returned from Spring Break with my family to find two clients who made absolutely no progress in my absence over the last 10 Days.

By “progress,” I mean neither had taken any meaningful action on the latest round of recommendations I made before leaving. In their defense, much of what I recommend ranges from a little counter-intuitive to down right unheard of (call / write anytime, and I’ll share a couple of specific examples) – and employing these methods almost always requires a pretty substantial shift in mindset.

By the same token, this is exactly why my clients enjoy such rapid success. (We can usually achieve true differentiation in less than 60 Days, and tangible financial results in less than 90).

“Google” me or read any of my work, and you’ll know that I’m no stranger to Leading Change, so I wasn’t exactly blindsided by the news – but hearing each client’s rationale for their failure to take action enabled me to re-discover a timeless principle:

Belief Trumps Everything.

Effective Selling is a Transference of Belief. (Not my thought leadership here – I learned this from an early mentor, Steve Brown . . . but I’ve certainly validated it over the last 20 years.)


3 Lessons / Disciplines Re-Learned from this experience:

1. Personal Accountability: The clients’ excuses (all of which really boiled down to “not enough time”) were weak, but the bottom line is: The Failure Was Mine. I failed to transfer belief.

If either had Believed in the Value of my recommendations half as much as I do, they would have found the time, and taken action – without any additional prompting by me. And it was my responsibility to transfer this belief before I took off for 10 days of R & R.

Not my first mistake, and certainly not my last – but simply acknowledging the failure isn’t enough. Now it’s time to borrow a page from the playbook of another Mentor (John Miller), and ask productive questions, like: “What Can I Do / Say Differently To Transfer My Belief to These Clients?”


2. Personal Belief Check: In my case – at least with respect to these particular recommendations, I think I’m pretty solid. (Spend 5 minutes with me on the phone exploring virtually any Sales & Marketing topic, and you’ll know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I believe in what I’m saying.) That said, I have been in situations in the past where I did not completely believe in what I was selling – and my results reflected it. And I’ve coached more than a few “once top performers” who have lost their belief.

It’s a simple question: “Do I Personally Believe In What I'm Selling?” And if the answer is “No,” you really do have some options. However, continuing as you are is not one of them –this is an exercise in futility.


3. Belief Transfer Check: (This is where I dropped the ball.) This is so easy to do, so critical to selling successfully . . . and probably the most neglected of all sales disciplines.

The most frequent example I see in my work is in larger, more complex sales where Internal Champions are “sold” first, then enrolled to help elevate the conversation to the C-Suite.
At least the salesperson thought they were sold . . . right up until they watch their Internal Champion back-paddle halfway across the conference room at the first sign of resistance from the CEO. My standard question in these situations (before we get to the C-Suite):

“If this decision were solely yours, would you take the action I’m recommending?”

But whether you find yourself in these multi-layered sales processes or simple, straight forward one on one exchanges with the decision maker, I can’t stress heavily enough how important it is that you find out for sure if – and to what degree – you’ve truly transferred belief. If not – or not enough – right then and there is the time to know.


** One Last Note For Those of You Leading Salespeople:

Belief Really Does Trump Everything . . . And You Can’t Build It, Sustain It, Or Fix It (Solely) With Skills Training

- Product Knowledge will help (a lot in some cases)
- Skills Training (how to transfer and check for transfer) will help
- Seeing / Hearing Customers Benefit is powerful
- Seeing / Hearing Your Belief is equally powerful
- Witnessing Any Lack of Belief From You will quickly destroy theirs

Belief is the primary source of Emotional Commitment and Discretionary Effort for your sales force – the high octane fueling the most productive in your charge . . . and you are the primary steward of this precious reserve. Guard It, Build It, Nurture It accordingly.