Speaker: Carole Mahoney, Founder and Chief Sales Coach at Unbound Growth

Excerpts from the September 2019 #MTMN Executive Buffet (Formerly the #SmallBizBuffet). Join us for online and live events or host your own with or without a memebrship.

The Common Sales Mindset

Let’s face it, most of us hate sales, and like most of us so did Carole Mahoney who has since founded her own sales strategy company. She began her career, like many of us, trying to avoid sales. When that didn’t work, again like most of us, she began learning everything she could about sales – she read books, attended workshops, took training… but it wasn’t enough. It simply wasn’t resulting in more sales. So again, like many of us, she wondered what was wrong with her.

Again, like many of us, she wondered what was wrong with her but she eventually realized it wasn’t just her. It was a common problem we all face called “The Forgetting Curve”. The forgetting curve states that half of all new information we learn is lost within an hour if it is not applied. 70% of that information is lost within 24 hours and 90% of that information is lost within the week. With U.S. companies spending over $20 billion a year on sales training and only half of sales employees making quota, the forgetting curve is responsible for $10 billion being thrown out the door every year.

It’s a problem for big and small businesses alike. We know we must apply what we learn pretty quickly to make it worth our investment but we don’t always have the time or opportunity to do this. So, Carole continued to look for a solution. While teaching a course at Harvard Business School, Carol noticed her students not performing very well although they thought they had done wonderfully. The reason – they were modeling what they believed successful salespeople were doing. She immediately realized another way we learn is by copying what we see other people doing, especially when we believe they’re successful at something we want to do. 

The problem, however, with both herself and her students was that they were modeling negative perceptions of salespeople they’d seen on TV and in movies, or from watching salespeople in real life who simply had the same negative perception of sales. She had to find a solution. If we learn sales in 2 common ways – modeling others and studying from books and workshops but we forget up to 90% of what we’ve learned when we don’t apply it quickly, how can we become more effective at sales when we’re short on time and opportunity?

Adopt a Growth Mindset to Be More Effective at Sales

Carole soon learned the theory of Reasoned Action which explains that stronger intentions lead to increased efforts to perform. Increased efforts, naturally, lead to an increased probability to perform.  Simply put, our attitudes (or mindsets) toward an action affect our ability to perform that action. So, if we want to perform better in sales, we must move towards more positive attitudes toward sales. Eureka!

To begin, when learning through modeling, we want to learn from experts who already have a positive attitude toward sales. Otherwise, we are just learning to create habits that we hate and that will not drive our success. So when looking for books and workshops, seek out professionals who have positive sales mindsets and practices. This made a huge difference in changing Carole’s mindset toward sales. 

Then Carole came across the book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck which summarizes her research on the social psychology related to implicit theories of intelligence. Dweck’s research determined that a person’s beliefs about whether or not intelligence or abilities can change were related to how successful they would be. Dweck concluded that a growth mindset allows people to live less stressful and more successful lives.

So not only does Carole recommend all entrepreneurs read this book, but she encourages us to move towards a growth mindset by challenging negative assumptions about sales. Carole suggests moving away from the negative attitude that sales is just a numbers game and instead focusing on the positive attitude that sales (and salespeople) solve problems. When we see sales in a positive light, we also see what we’re doing as positive which helps us learn and perform better.

About Carole Mahoney, Founder and Chief Sales Coach at Unbound Growth

Carole believes that sales are the connection between a problem and a solution and better salespeople and leaders can make the world a better place. Making a big-picture difference is what motivates her to find creative and realistic solutions to compelling problems for real people. 

If you’re ready for a sales coach or looking for sales workshops and training from someone with a positive mindset, visit Carole at UnboundGrowth.com.

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