Remove The Roadblocks: Start Selling From The Heart

"Doubts in your mind are a much greater roadblock to success than obstacles on the journey."

Orrin Woodward

The stories in our head become the stories of our lives.

The above-mentioned quote stresses the significant impact that doubts can have on one's journey towards success. 

Internal uncertainties, mental gymnastics and lack of belief in oneself can be more detrimental than all the external obstacles or challenges encountered along the way. 

In society and especially within many sales cultures, an image of the heart is often associated with yielding sentimentality and or weakness. However, the heart is strong and powerful, the driving force of life, one heartbeat at a time.

The heart is a symbol of strength, vitality, and resilience. It's not just a physical organ pumping blood; it's also very symbolic, the seat of emotions, courage, and determination.

In business culture, where traits like bravado and toughness are often prioritized, there's sometimes a tendency to overlook the importance of empathy, compassion, and emotional intelligence – all traits associated with the heart.

When we acknowledge the heart as a symbol of strength, we honor its role as the driving force behind human connection.

I believe your ability to succeed becomes crippled when there's an unbalanced connection with your heart. Embracing a heart-centered approach rests in your ability to stop, look inward, and reflect upon the course of action you know is the right one, rather than succumbing to external pressures and all the misaligned sales tactics.

Our heart is the absolute key to our survival. Plain and simple, if our heart stops beating, we know what happens. We're cognizant of this, so we take good care of it. We exercise, we eat healthy, and we try to avoid stress; all in the name of heart-health.

A BEATING SALES HEART

“If your goals aren’t synced with the substance of your heart, then achieving them won’t matter much.”

Danielle LaPorte

It seems that many sales organizations have become bottom line focused, and results driven. They're looking outward, as they're being led by their brain. Core values have been thrown to the waste side as money and profit have rapidly become the driving force.

While it's important to achieve financial success, this shouldn't come at the expense of integrity, ethics, or the well-being of your clients.

When there's prioritization of short-term gains over long-term sustainability, this often deemphasizes the importance of building genuine relationships with clients, fostering trust, and delivering meaningful value beyond mere transactions. 

These actions will lead your customers to feel like mere numbers, and when they feel like mere numbers there's zero opportunity to build trust.

For the brain to work we need a strong heart. 

What has me concerned, as I work inside many sales teams is that I find unhealthy hearts where values and beliefs are misaligned. Layer on top of this misaligned values in management and folks... this is a monumental recipe for a sales disaster.

REMOVE THE ROADBLOCKS TO GET TO YOUR HEART

"Lessons often come dressed up as detours and roadblocks."

Oprah Winfrey

As we start to unpack some of the potential roadblocks, let's look to the Merriam-Webster dictionary to help us define roadblocks. 

1. A barricade often with traps or mines for holding up an enemy at a point on a road covered by fire.
2. An obstruction in a road.
3. Something that blocks progress or prevents accomplishment of an objective.

A few questions for all of you right now... 

• What's blocking your progress or preventing you from selling with your heart?
• What might be getting in the way of you achieving your goals or sales desires?

Poor sales performance is due to an unhealthy sales lifestyle. An unhealthy sales lifestyle leads to an unhealthy heart.

One has a choice when it comes to roadblocks. One can remain in their current state, or one can do something about it. 

Do you want to be stuck at these roadblocks and not complete your journey; however you have defined it, or do you want to choose to do something about it and continue your way to sales betterment?

What roadblocks might be preventing you from selling with your heart?

REMOVE THE EGO ROADBLOCK

“Do you know how you can tell when someone is truly humble?  I believe there’s one simple test: because they consistently observe and listen, then humbly improve.  They don’t assume, ‘I know the way.’”

Ryan Holiday

The ego is the sense we have of our self-esteem and our self-worth. When it comes to moving forward in life, Ryan Holiday, author of Ego is the Enemy argues that both in success and in failure our ego only gets in the way and holds us back.

What might be holding you back from sales greatness?

The time many of us spend in our own heads comparing ourselves to others and measuring our esteem is time that distracts us from the real work we could be doing—the work of producing our craft and cultivating our heart.

No change means no growth. No growth means a slow, downward spiraling and somewhat painful sales departure.

What the ego fails to see is that right outside of the comfort zone, is the learning zone. Time spent in this zone leads to sales magic which creates long-term sustainability.

Ryan Holiday states, 

"The first step to entering into the learning zone, is to spend time understanding the ego and learning how we can remove it from our everyday experiences."

Heartfelt professionals check their ego at the door. Media and the movies portray salespeople as egomaniacs with slick-backed hair and a “do whatever it takes to close the sale” mentality. Doesn't this remind you of Glengarry Glen Ross? 

While there's always some truth to stereotypes, the biggest exceptions to the rule lie within us.

In today's highly connected, digitally driven and socially empowered business world; a highly assertive, and a know-it-all mentality combined with a super-charged ego will become the kiss of sales death.

Top performing professionals, the true superstars always sell from the heart. 

They're open-minded, curious, collaborative, vulnerable, open to learning and aim for trust-based partnerships with their clients. 

These professionals have humility and operate without any deception whatsoever. 

This is in direct conflict to the behavior of ego-driven sales rep.

A huge ego is a sales growth buzz-kill.

REMOVE VIEWING HEART AS A SALES WEAKNESS

Honoring your heart is not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of wisdom.

True power resides with listening to your internal self and finding it within your heart, as you make a commitment to clear all that stands in the way of a heartfelt connection.

Sharing your knowledge is not a sign of weakness. It's a sign of wisdom. 

Your focus must be placed on how you can help your clients and future clients. 

Share your knowledge, your insights and what you can do for others rather than for yourself. I guarantee no one likes a know-it all, self-centered and stereo-typical sales rep... This does not build fellowship nor your client community.

It takes internal fortitude and massive amounts of strength, for professionals to lead with their heart and not just their wallet. In doing so, they're able to connect with the emotional needs of their clients and future clients. 

They understand people have the need to be valued, respected, heard and acknowledged. By acknowledging and not forgetting the human element, heart-centered professionals maintain the wisdom to positively transform their client's business by helping them to do better business, a more profitable one.

REMOVE THE LISTENING ROADBLOCK

A heartfelt connection leads to a heartfelt conversation.

We hear through our ears, but we listen through our minds.

Something magical starts to happen when you're willing set aside your sales bravado and tune into a bit of vulnerability, as you become more engaged in real, genuine and heartfelt business conversation. 

What this ultimately means is that you place your clients and future clients front and center in your conversation.

Question for all of you...

Are you sincerely, without a shadow of a doubt, listening without an hidden agenda?

Leave your hidden agenda on the doorstep. 

With sincerity focus in and listen to your clients. Zero in on how you can best serve their hopes, dreams and goals. 

Good ole Zig Ziglar said it best, 

“You can have everything in life that you want if you just give enough other people what they want.”

When you fail or struggle to listen with your heart this means you're not giving someone your full attention. You're failing to allow the people right in front of you to express their feelings, concerns and issues in a way that is heard and understood.

BRING YOUR HEART TO THE FOREFRONT 

Placing your heart at the forefront is about opening the human door to connection, to serve, and to become vulnerable. 

It’s about showing up in a way that lifts the spirits of the people around you. It’s about the willingness to be real, relatable and relevant.

Bringing your heart to what you do makes for a deeper, richer experience which benefits both you, your clients and your future clients. 

I encourage all of you to step away from the armor and the sales facade. Create opportunities for in-depth relationships that can never be experienced hiding behind a professional sales mask.

You can no longer leave heart at the doorstep.

In today's post-trust world, your willingness to serve from your heart will create sales longevity, sustainability and meaningful relationships beyond your wildest imagination.

• Servants make themselves available to serve.
• Servants pay attention to other's needs.
• Servants complete every task with equal dedication.
• Servants become faithful and trustworthy.
• Servants go above and beyond, it's their purpose.

If you want to be great, if you want to be successful, if you crave sales excellence then learn to become a servant. Stop selling…Start serving... Start with your heart and commit to leading yourself.

Originally published on Larry Levine's LinkedIn.