Get Ready to Sell by Building Self-Confidence

Business Success Program: Business Success Lesson 5

Man smiling at his reflection in mirror
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To sell, you must believe in your product or service — and believe in yourself. Your selling skills depend, in large part, on your level of self-confidence.

Other people sense whether or not you believe in yourself, and by extension, whether or not you believe in what you're doing. That belief is what persuades the customer or client to buy the product or service. Therefore, building your self-confidence will improve your selling skills.

Building Self Confidence

Do you believe that you personally are not good at selling? Are worry and anxiety eroding your self-confidence?

Everyone has these feelings at one time or another. But that doesn't mean that you can't sell successfully. Believing in yourself is like any other attitude; self-confidence can be learned. You can increase your self-confidence through practice, and that, in turn, will increase your selling skills.

Develop a Routine to Build Your Self Confidence 

Like many other people, I don't wake up each day revved up with self-confidence. But if you met me in person, you would think I was a confident person. That's because whether I'm going to present a workshop, meet with a client, or even work at home that day, I go through a routine that I've developed to pump up my self-confidence and get me ready to sell.

The focus of the building self-confidence routine is to eliminate all those distractions that are interfering with my concentration on the event at hand and to put me into the positive, confident frame of mind that I want to present to others, whether in person or via technology.

My building self-confidence routine involves going over all my preparations, going through a ritual of bathing and dressing, and conducting a mental rehearsal that includes using self-praise.

Use Self-Praise 

We are surrounded by negative influences. But most of these negative influences exist in our own heads. Awake or asleep, our minds constantly produce a series of thoughts and images, and for many of us, these produce a constant barrage of negative messages.

Using self-praise is a self-confidence building technique for combating these negative messages. Instead of allowing your mind to produce whatever messages it wants, consciously override these messages with positive praise about what you've done, or do, well. For instance, say to yourself, "You really handled that crisis well yesterday, when you..." , or "You're really great at..." Your self-confidence will bloom more readily in a positive mental climate.

Tips for Building Your Routine

Like the daily planning session, your building self-confidence routine needs to be uninterrupted. Do not take phone calls during this time, or let family members interrupt you.

It helps to physically confront yourself when you're conducting a self-praise session to build your self-confidence. Many people find it helpful to stand in front of a mirror when they're doing this, and to speak out loud. Once you've become comfortable with the technique, you may wish to go through the self-praise exercise mentally and combine it with other activities, such as exercise or household tasks.

If you haven't used a self-confidence building techniques such as self-praise at first, you'll probably feel silly when you first start. Ignore these feelings and persevere. Over time, you'll find your feelings of silliness diminish as your self-confidence grows.

The more specific you make your self-praise, the more powerful it will be. And the more you use your building self-confidence routine, the more your internal self-confidence will develop — the self-confidence you need to sell your product or service successfully.

Homework Assignment: Building Your Self Confidence

Develop a personal building self-confidence routine and use it every day this week.

Your building self-confidence routine may be as simple as using a five-minute session of self-praise each day, or as complex as using several techniques such as visualizing success and self-praise with whatever elements of your personal routine you find work best for you.

Many people find that going through their building self-confidence routine just before their daily planning session gives their day positive energy that helps them be more productive throughout the day.