Crappy Money Beliefs...

When I first started out in sales I had crappy beliefs around money... My upbringing conditioned me - I'm the son of Scottish parents who would watch every penny. No sob story - I had a great childhood, but money was always very tight. My Gran would walk miles to save a penny on a pint of milk. My Mum is the same. I'd go to school and whilst the other kids had a packet of crisps every day in their lunchbox, I'd only get them alternate days (& that was on Tuesday's and Thursday's!). Instead of a Penguin, Kitkat or Club I'd be given a custard cream wrapped in a sandwich bag. It always made me feel like the poor kid, like I was somehow not as good as the others. And so when I was starting out in sales my money beliefs were that: - it was a scarce commodity - most things were too expensive - it's rude to talk about it This led to me discounting very easily, as I would agree with any prospect who said we were too expensive. I would empathise due to my scarcity mindset. I'd feel awkward when it came down to delivering pricing. My tone would become meek & apologetic. It was like a necessary evil. ...but I worked in sales for God's sake - how mad is that! Whenever I'd eat out I'd usually order the chicken...I mean how could anyone even consider paying over £20 for steak! Even when I was making decent money this would be my mindset. And it affected everything. It connects to your feelings of self worth, of not feeling good enough, and that others are somehow better. If you work in sales this will impact you in all sorts of negative ways. It will mean you feel uncomfortable talking about money, or asking for the order, and you will easily fold in the face of a decision maker who tells you that you're too expensive. Spend some time thinking about and writing down any negative beliefs you may have about money...and then work on reversing them. It took me way too long to finally do this...but when I did, it changed everything. #sales #mindset #money