Have I told you how grateful I am for you? How thankful I am that you allow me in your inbox, in your social feeds, and give me feedback about how I can help you or move your business forward?
I am. I am very grateful.
And, in fact, some of the very best salespeople I know, the most successful ones I know, have a healthy appreciation and an abundance of gratitude.
They practice gratitude daily.
Gratitude – It’s a pretty broad concept to say that we are grateful and that we practice gratitude but what does it really mean? What does it mean and how could it be helpful for salespeople?
Here are 3 Ways Successful Sellers Use Gratitude (from my own experience):
- Appreciate your failures. You might not expect to be grateful for failure. However deep appreciation for the bad experiences, the disappointments, the flops, the disasters, the mess-ups … is a tremendous benefit.
People that can get over the initial hurt, disappointment, and expectation of different outcomes can usually take lessons from it. Great salespeople are lifelong agile learners and they learn from the good but mostly the bad, the disappointing, or the ugly moments.
Lessons learned are applied forward, which makes you grateful for those terrible tasting “shit sandwiches” that give you tools or skills to achieve new successes.
- Be grateful for clients. I Express gratitude to my clients because I know they have other choices. There is always someone out there trying to earn their attention and their business. I must keep earning their business so I’m grateful each time they choose me versus someone else.
I don’t expect their business because I’m not entitled to it. I’m not an order taker. I must keep showing value and renewing their interest. Working with many different sales teams and in different industries, I can tell you there is a megaton of competition out there for EVERY business. No one has a monopoly on goods or services anymore (well, almost no one).
You can’t afford to take for granted your existing customers. Show them love, do something special, tell them you appreciate that they chose you, and work hard to earn their loyalty.
- Grateful for their career. Lastly, I think great salespeople are grateful for the opportunity to sell and for their career in sales. Some of my most enduring relationships have been with people that I called on knocked on their door one day and they became customers and later friends. If I look at my social circles, and my social media feeds, they’re filled with people that I’ve come to know through this career. They’re people that have produced the product that I’ve sold. They’re people that I have sold alongside with and people I have sold products or services to. Friends, colleagues, partners, mentors … an embarrassment of riches in my life … all because of this career in sales. I’m grateful for the career that’s allowed me to have an abundance of wonderful people in my network.
Thank you. If you’re reading this, this letter of gratitude includes YOU. Thank you for letting me into your inbox, your social feeds, your businesses, and your brains. I do NOT take that for granted.
Tell me, in your sales or business practices, what are you grateful for and how do you practice gratitude?
Until next time, stop hoping and start SELLING!
-sks
PS – Here are a few extras – sort of like the crunchy fried onions on that green bean casserole …
Here’s why you should always send a Thanksgiving or Holiday email … and, if you want to see me get a bit teary when talking about what or, WHO I’m grateful for, click through to THIS short video.
