Coachable (open/non‐defensive)
Coachable means that you are open to feedback and coaching in the form of an evaluation or criticism with becoming defensive. Being open and not defensive is directly related to your self‐esteem and self‐confidence. People with low self‐esteem and self‐confidence take almost anything said to them in a negative way, as a criticism or slap in the face. Being coachable and not defensive will help you improve and grow and will make you more valued by your management.
Curious
Salespeople must be insatiably curious about all elements of their product, their company and its technology stack, their industry, advertising, and marketing. Curious people are not only open to coaching and training but they thirst for it. In the podcast “Masters of Scale With Reid Hoffman” mentioned earlier, Eric Schmidt’s complete answer to the question of what Google look for in hiring people was “persistence and curiosity.”17
Self‐motivated
Being self‐motivated means that you do not depend on others to spark your drive to achieve but that you have the discipline and courage to set your own goals and to improve yourself. Being self‐motivated means you have a strong desire to work, to do a good job, to achieve, and to improve. Daniel Pink in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us writes that there are three things that motivate people: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.18 People have an inherent motivation to get good at something, which, as Pink points out, is why after working hard on a job during the week, some people will spend the weekend practicing on their guitar because they are driven to improve. This craving for improvement is what drives self‐motivation.
Assertive
Assertive does not mean aggressive. It means being firm in expressing your ideas, thoughts, and feelings. One need not be pushy; quiet determination and resolve can result in being heard, included, and recognized.
Flexible
Flexible means being willing to change your plans, your attitudes, your opinions, and your feelings about people and situations. It allows you to be less rigid, open to new ideas and ways of doing things. Flexibility is an attribute that you were either born with or not, but it can learned with practice.
Cooperative
Being cooperative means being a good team member, willing to help others and work towards company goals. The best analogy for cooperation I have ever read is, “We are all angels with only one wing, and the only way we can fly is by embracing each other.”
Nurturing
Being nurturing means caring for others, wanting to help and mentor. Having a nurturing attitude is vitally important for media salespeople so that they will not forget about their customers after a sale and will care about getting results. This attitude helps salespeople overcome a tendency to hit‐and‐run after making a sale. Paperwork and production need to be completed properly, the schedule placed properly, and the customer contacted frequently and serviced after an ad or schedule runs.
Can I control and change my attitudes?
Attitudes can be changed and controlled, but you must have the will power and discipline to practice relentlessly and deliberately. Making any changes within ourselves takes self‐discipline and practice. Techniques used by sports psychologists can help you control, manage, and change your attitude.
Positive framing
This technique is based on the concept that verbal or written communication creates images, or pictures, in our heads that we cannot erase with mere language. If you tell people “do not think of an elephant” and then ask them what kind of an animal popped into their mind, they will invariably tell you they had an image of an elephant. They simply cannot think of a no elephant, zero elephant, or nothing elephant, as instructed.19 Because we think visually, in pictures, you want to put positive pictures in your and your customers’ minds.
Imagine if after losing a basketball game a coach uses a negative frame and says to his team, “Do not miss free throws! We lost the game because we missed too many free throws! You’re a bunch of bums!” The team will get a picture implanted in their heads of missing free throws and will continue to miss free throws. On the other hand, it would form a positive image if the coach were to say after losing a game, using a positive frame, “Make your free throws. Free throws win ball games.”
Always use positive frames in your inner dialogues with yourself and in external dialogues with others. When you use a positive frame, you put a positive spin on things and you create optimism in yourself. An example of a positive frame would be an offer by a gas station of a “cash discount” instead of informing consumers of a “credit card surcharge.” Positive framing is a very valuable sales tool as we will see later in Chapters 11 and 13.
Visualization and mental rehearsal
To use visualization, mobilize all of your senses and imagine a future sales call, down to how prospects will look and act while hearing your presentation. Visualize your prospects’ reaction to your presentation – a big smile and a nod of the head. Next, mentally rehearse your presentation, including how you will create value for your product, and silently rehearse your proposals. Visualize the ideal outcome of your presentation and your reaction when your proposal is accepted. Will you jump up and click your heels? If so, practice this in your mind. Rehearse your presentation word for word, out loud over and over, visualizing prospects’ reactions and your responses to their questions. Constant practice of visualization is a key to success and is an excellent confidence booster. While visualization has been referred to as instant replay, Spencer Johnson and Larry Wilson, in their best‐selling book, The One Minute Sales Person, call this technique “the one minute rehearsal.”20
Another dramatic example of the power of visualization was seen in a video series about athletes in the 2018 Winter Olympics who visualize their dream performance. Biathlon competitor Lowell Bailey looks “at the snow and imagines himself as a bow with an arrow drawn, ready to accelerate.”21 Before a cross‐country race, Sadie Bjornsen, when she hears the count‐down timer, “imagines herself as bird flying up the hills.”22 Brenna Huckaby “goes to her happy place,” her home, and hears her mother’s voice saying, “Come on, baby!”23
Do the right thing
Behave ethically at all times. Integrity and honesty are not only good business practices that will help you manage relationships and build