Confidence is key in sales.
Confidence shows belief in the value of your product, or service, and that gives your prospect confidence as well. When you’re insecure, you undermine your ability to illustrate your product's value. You seem unsure. And that's not a recipe for sales success.
It’s easy to be confident when everything goes our way. But what happens after a string of bad calls, when doubt starts settling in? What happens when we’re just not “feeling it”?
For these times, it helps to have some “hacks” to help you jump into a confident state. Plus, if you begin your day with some of these hacks, you can start out with a burst of confidence.
Here are 5 confidence “hacks” to help you accelerate your sales numbers:
1. Power Posing
Can standing like a Superhero make you a sales hero?
Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist, has one of the most popular Ted Talks of all time with over 32 million views. In it, she discusses how “power posing” can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and may even impact our chances for success.
Additionally, a recent study by Columbia University found that power posing can actually make you feel more powerful and less stressed.
Here are a few common power poses:
- Stand with your legs in a wide stance and your arms spread out wide overhead
- Sit back in a chair with your leg crossed over the opposite knee and your hands behind your neck with your elbows spread wide
- Stand with your legs in a wide stance and your hands on your hips
2. Meditation
Two recent studies from Wake Forest University (2012) and the University of British Colombia (2014) found improvements in attention and cognitive function after only four days of meditation, and showed that meditation actually causes changes in the gray and white matter of the brain.
You can actually re-wire your brain through consistent meditation. It just takes 10 minutes a day.
Plus, a 2012 study from East Carolina University found that meditation can help reduce anxiety, stress, and depression.
To get started, meditate for 10 minutes a day and use smartphone apps like Headspace or Calm to keep you on track and accountable, and also learn the proper way to meditate.
We often think we're too busy to meditate... that we don't have the time.
In reality, a 5-10 minute session can make you dramatically more productive throughout the day. Try it.
3. Smile or Laugh
When we're lacking confidence it shows on our face. We frown, we furrow our brow, our eyes look down. Unfortunately, this outward display, only serves to make matters worse.
Try forcing a smile. Try forcing a laugh. Better yet, think of something, look at something, or watch something that causes you to do it naturally.
It's a great reset... and a good way to restore some much needed confidence.
4. Focused Breathing
When you’re stressed and anxious, you tend to have poor posture and collapse your lungs. You get less oxygen with these shallow breaths and it only adds to the stress.
Set aside a few minutes a day to focus on your breath. Take 5 to 10 deep breaths from your belly, and take in a lot oxygen. And when you’re feeling stressed, recognize it, and take 3 deep breaths. This can help calm you and get your confidence back up.
5. Personal Mantra
A mantra is a powerful affirmation you repeat over and over again. It may sound a bit corny, but mantras have been shown to work time and again.
For example, Kamal Ravikant, author of Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It used the mantra, “I love myself” to propel himself to great levels of success.
Coincidentally, the book went on to become a #1 best-seller and sell hundreds of thousands of copies.
Some other powerful mantras you can use are:
- “I am confident, I am powerful, I am [your name].”
- “I am a success.”
- "Who rocks at sales? Yo I rock at sales!" (okay I made that up, but use what works!)
With mantras, repetition is key. So, make a habit of repeating your mantra every morning for a minute or two.
These confidence hacks will give you a shot of confidence when you need it the most – and in turn, they can help your accelerate your sales numbers.
What confidence hacks do you use?
