Never lose your Self-Belief

His face said it all.

He looked like a shadow of his former self.

Top of the board last quarter and towards the end of this one he wasn't even at 25% of target.

"What's happening to me?" he asked.

Elliott (we'll call him) used to be a close colleague of mine.

I asked him what he thought he did differently last quarter.

"I'm not sure, I just felt in the zone you know. Like I could do no wrong. Everything just flowed, people were eating out of my hand.

But now I don't seem to have any power in meetings. I feel unsure. I just need a couple of deals to drop in then I'll get my confidence back. But nothing is happening."

"How do you feel now before your meetings?" I asked.

"Honestly? Nervous, anxious, I overthink the preparation and get a bit tangled up during my questioning."

"And how did you used to feel?"

"Calm, confident, smooth. Things would come to me, my questioning was good, I'd listen carefully and build rapport."

"So you see the problem?

All you need to do is revert back to your previous state."

"But how?"

"You're currently outcome-obsessed, so detach from it.

You're also letting your emotions rule you and most likely going into fight or flight mode. It's clouding your judgement & stopping you from thinking clearly.

Treat every call as independent from the last.

Go back to basics.

Take emotion out.

Disqualify hard and expect those you can't qualify out to most likely want to buy from you.

Decide now you don't need them anymore than they need you.

Try to put them off. Bring up every possible objection.

Stop trying to people please.

Ask really tough questions.

Ask them why they're even speaking to you and what they think you can offer them.

Pre-empt everything.

Advise them on at least three other solutions and explore them together.

Go for the no.