High levels of optimism yield better salespeople and better sales results - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Here’s a thought: Take a look at a soft emotional intelligence skill that yields hardsales results: There is evidence that supports the theoryy that sales teams possessing high levels of optimism make companiex more money. One of the best case studiesa comes from the work that psychologist Martimn Seligman did with inNew York. He convinced to give him accesss to their new employees and administer theusuak testing, as well as a new test he developed that measured He followed the progress of new salespeoplde for one year and found that salespeople who scorer high in optimism sold 33 percentf more insurance than those who score low.
After two years, the optimistic grou p of salespeople were thriving in their whichincreased retention, decreased the costes associated with turnover and increased How optimistic is your organization? There is a lot of presz on the swine flu, and people are worriecd about catching it. There is another epidemidc to watch out forin today’s pessimism. It can be deadly when it hits an organizatiobn because emotionsare contagious. The clinicap term is emotional contagion and is definedeas “the transmission of moods.” When peoplr are in a certain mood — happyg or depressed — that mood is often communicated to What is the mood at your company?
What message is the leadership team sendiny your sales team? What is your sales team communicatingb to your customers and prospects? A sales managet shares the story of a rep who started ever y conversation in the last downturn with, “You probably don’t have any money so you don’tg want to buy The self-fulfilling prophecy was set by the and the prospect followed the salesperson’s lead. No deal. So what can you do to stop the epidemidcof pessimism? Study and duplicate optimistic salespeople.
When faceds with adversity, optimistic salespeopl ask themselves: • What’s good about this They know that adversity is where true character is formeed and great lessons are Optimists take advantage of this schooling because they know that lessons learned today make money inthe future. • What can I do abou this situation? Optimists know that control equalds action, action yields results, and results increasew motivation. • What is funny about this?? Humor is a great way to relieve stresss which frees up the mind for creativityand innovation. They choosr their friends wisely.
The motivationak speaker Jim Rohn says, “Yohu are the average of the five people you spendf the mosttime with.” Are you hanginv out with optimists or pessimists? What kind of emotioj is getting spread among your peer and colleagues? Is it healthy conversation or a new version of pessimisti c flu? They remind themselve that adversity is temporary, not permanent. If businessd is a little slow, optimistic salespeople speed it up by taking care of theierbest assets: existing customers. Optimistic salespeople take They know sales is the greatest profession to be in durinfa recession. They can increaser their prospecting activity without running it througb a boardof directors.
They can meet with mentors who can help them look at anothert way of doing business intough times. They can outwork their competitors. They can invest in learning and outsmarftheir competitor. Optimistic salespeople manage results, not