No one has ever said that advertising sales is easy. In fact, with the plethora of digital and mobile media options now available in the marketplace that effectively target today’s on-the-go consumer, it’s more difficult than ever for newspaper advertising executives to close sales and find fresh revenue streams. Difficult – certainly. Impossible – absolutely not! Newspapers still have the most compelling value proposition in mass media today, and by carefully navigating the sales cycle, conducting a thorough client needs analysis, AND believing in our personal abilities to win we’ll continue to be rewarded with a generous share of local business marketing budgets.
Remember the children’s story of The Little Engine That Could? The underlying theme of that story is exactly how we all need to approach newspaper advertising sales. Remember that for every “yes” you receive, it’s likely you’ll hear twice as many “no’s.” But that’s ok…it’s to be expected. However, what you need to do is believe in yourself. Believe in the sales process. Believe in your ability to build trusting relationships. Just like The Little Engine, constantly remind yourself that you CAN do it! “I-think-I-can-I-think-I-can…”
Too often when we hear “no” from our clients, we begin to have negative thoughts. We begin to doubt ourselves. Our confidence, mood, and outlook become negative too. Negative thoughts are self-fulfilling; we talk ourselves into believing that we’re not good enough. And, because of this, these thoughts drag down our personal lives, our relationships, and our careers.
This is why consciously doing the opposite – using positive affirmations – can be extremely helpful. Positive affirmations are specific statements that help you to overcome self-sabotaging, negative thoughts. They help you visualize, and believe in, what you’re affirming to yourself, helping you to make positive changes to your life and career.
Examples of positive affirmations:
- I can do this!
- I’m excellent at what I do.
- I’m grateful for and enjoy the job I have.
- I’m viewed as a leader in my organization.
- I’m respected and valued by my colleagues and my clients.
- I’m successful.
- I’m bringing a positive attitude to work every day.
I’ve said it many times before. Selling is a science. Selling is a systematic series of repeatable events designed to produce a desired result. Many of us do repetitive exercises to improve our body’s physical health and condition. Affirmations are like exercises for our mind and outlook; these positive mental repetitions can reprogram our thinking patterns so that, over time, we begin to think and act in a new way.
You can use positive affirmations in any situation where you’d like to see a positive change take place. Examples of ideal situations include:
- Raise your confidence before presentations or important meetings.
- Control negative feelings such as frustration, anger, or impatience.
- Improve your self-esteem.
- Finish projects you’ve started.
- Improve your productivity.
Affirmations are often more effective when they’re paired with other positive thinking and goal-setting techniques, such as visualization and personal goal setting. Your sales managers can be of great assistance in helping you identify the goals you’d like to achieve in the short and long term – and then YOU can use positive affirmations to help keep yourself motivated in order to achieve them. Just remember that your affirmations need to be credible, believable, and based on arealistic assessment of fact. After all, if you don’t truly believe the positive affirmations you’re repeating to yourself, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll have any impact on your life.
Have a terrific week,
Dan
If there are specific topics you’d like to see discussed in a future issue of The Sales Cycle, please contact me at 612-278-0223 or dan@mna.org