By Alex Horvath
Remember the childish game you played as a kid, probably around the age of ten or eleven, after first learning the word "epidermis," which means skin? Do you remember running up to your friends and siblings, parents and teachers and mockingly pointing out that their "epidermis" was showing? You drove them all crazy!
As a sales professional, there is something else that shows almost as clearly as the skin on your face and that is your PMA, or positive mental attitude. Other people can tell if you have it the moment you open your mouth to speak, sometimes even just by walking into the room. PMA shows when you have it. It's also very clear when you have run low on PMA. Having an abundance of PMA is the secret to most successful sales professionals.
Face it, you have entered into a career where one of the odd facets of your job is having to remain positive amidst days with almost constant rejection. You must have a smile in your voice every time you answer the telephone. Your demeanor must be resilient for every new appointment. You must act friendly to strangers and interested in their lives and business. With even the gloomiest cloud hanging over your head, you must be confident and self-assured, as though there is nothing more important than the business you are conducting and the value of it to your prospective client. And, most importantly, you must have the PMA inside of you to not only show up for the appointment, but to go for the close. For without the close, there is no sale.
But let's face it againóit's not always easy to remain positive. Everybody has a life and occasional down days. So what can you to do get PMA? Can you buy it in the store like a box of cookies? That would be nice, but the answer is no. The key to maintaining your PMA is being in charge of your own attitude and doing proactive things in your life to avoid the bad times. The following are some steps to help maintain your positive mental attitude:
1. Get enough rest. If you are constantly dragging yourself to the office, then dragging yourself to the appointment and then dragging yourself to the next appointment, face it, you are a drag! If you get enough sleep the night before, the chances are that you will exude more of the all-important positive attitude that is so attractive to the very people you are trying to impress. Everybody's need for sleep is different, but six to eight hours (a night, not a week) should do the trick.
2. Remember to eat and exercise! Feed your PMA. Before you can take care of someone else's business you must take care of yourself. If you are thinking about lunch while in the middle of a long appointment, your desire to leave and consume mass quantities of cheeseburgers may soon become visible. It is better to be well nourished at regular times during the day so that you can be all there for your appointments. Also, few things eliminate stress better than a half-hour on the Stairmaster or 50 laps in the pool. The world looks different after a simple walk through the park or an after work bike ride.
3. Learn to compartmentalize. Whether you have had a quarrel with your spouse or have been dumped on by your boss, do not bring these negative feelings with you into a meeting. Instead, realize that you need to resolve whatever it is that is bothering youóand then set up time later in the day to do so. The problem is not going to go away, you must deal with it. By doing this, you get to control your reaction to what is bothering youóand then take care of business the way you are supposed to.
4. Don't become overwhelmed. One of the biggest destroyers of PMA is the feeling of being overwhelmed óyou just can't seem to get anything done! We have all over-committed or taken on too much at one time or another. The key to being effective and feeling positive about what you are doing is to prioritize and schedule tasks using a "to-do" list, which you update as each task is completed. Also, be realistic with your expectations. Unless you like working until midnight, or having to do things over because you were rushing - don't take on too much. Learn to put off today what you cannot possibly accomplish today.
5. Don't become a defeatist. Many sales organizations are rife with alleged sales professionals who can't get things going, and then poison the well around them by letting everyone know how dissatisfied they are. These individuals are doing themselves the worst disservice because they have lost track of what they are supposed to be doing: selling themselves first to the customer. With these doomsayers on duty, it's no small wonder people tell them no. So as a professional, you must be aware that just because one client said no, or put you off again, doesn't mean the next one will. Your PMA could be just what you need to sway the next customer into saying yes.
