Day 129: Facing fear of rejection in selling

Now what changed from my last blog post is that I evaluated all the outcomes in regards to my business or moneymaking options and decided not to start with activities of offering my design services. This is because the other project with educational product is moving quite fine so I decided to fully focus on it in order to invest my time more effectively. The marketing activities have reached a stage when I have in the past couple of days made a phone calls to kindergartens and arranged several meetings which three of them will be already tomorrow.

While designing a lead form and a leaflet for the meetings tomorrow I noticed how anxiety started to build up due to high expectations and fear of being turned down. Already during making phone calls with kindergarten directors, there was these fear of someone saying no. And this is because one single person is in charge of the whole kindergarten with the main unit and affiliating units all together. Consequently just one person has power to prevent me to access hundreds of leads. Sure there are quite a lot of kindergartens in the city and leads can be generated also in other ways, but this is the easiest and fastest way to get them. When I finished with design work, I felt a bit dizzy from the accumulated energy and also my eyes felt very tired. So I had to rest for a bit in order to recuperate. 

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed to fear of being rejected by potential client. I realize that rejection is part of life in general, especially in sales business where the quantity of nos is usually much larger that the quantity of yeses. Thus I commit myself to when and as I notice my mind to create the image of the event where I am turned down, to take a deep breath and see this a mind's attempt to separate me from what is here. I then allow myself to actually attend the meeting, do the best presentation possible and then wait for the response where I would consider yes and no as equals and remain energetically stable.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to when designing the promotional materials to fear that I will make some spelling or composition mistake that clients might discover them when handing them the material which could eventually lead to them deciding that they do not want to collaborate with me because of a tiny mistake that they had discovered. I realize that mistakes are part of our lives since there is no such thing as total perfection and each one of us very limited in regards perception and awareness. Thus I commit myself to when and as I design some text document and my mind would produce thought of others judging me, to see this as a diversion of the mind and focus my attention back to by breath. After I complete the document, I check it carefully word by word and remove all the mistakes that I notice. Then I leave it as it is and give opportunity to others to discover possible remaining mistakes.

Suggested related audio to listen:

Lead as an Example in Your Business

Day 117: Influence of the price

Yesterday I participated at free webinar of Slovenian marketing guru Aleš Lisac where he talked about the price setting of the products. It assisted me a lot in realizing some facts that I thought before were quite different. I will now be able to be more confident at sales activities of the product that I am marketing. The conclusion is that most of the time we do not think very much about the price of the products we buy. We buy it simply out of convenience, because it was there, on our path, near other things and places and times where we usually buy our stuff.

The biggest mistake that he pointed out was that when sales are not as expected, we lower the price. This act produces very bad psychological message to the potential buyer and it also diminishes the profit of the seller a lot. Price reduction is actually lack of imagination about other possibilities. The price is basically never the problem and the best practice is to enhance the quality of packaging or create a product with even larger price. This is because price is never in a vacuum, it is always relative to prices of other similar products. 

So if for example your main product costs 100 € it is best to produce just a bit larger or better variation and price it significantly higher, like 200 €. Immediately the primary product would not anymore be regarded as expensive but quite cheap, regardless of what it is. Improved looks, design or packaging also influence very much what the price range can be. For example average book costs 25 € however the special issue of the Bible produces by our famous print company sold it for the price of 2.000 € and was treated as collectors item. The other example is a dog shed which costs about 100 € however there is a producer of dog sheds with starting price of 20.000 € and they do sell very well.

There are also certain psychological price levels that influence very much how much each type of product will sell and they have to be tested. Also a very wide variant selection of one product can bring to confusion and consumers have hard time to decide. And the most challenging way of selling is one on one personal direct sale when the customer can find out very quickly if the salesperson believes that the price is too high. Also one must never judge the price based on own buying power since they are people who can afford your product even if it is too expensive for you to buy it for yourself. 

Other ways of improving sales is to improve the product line, to sell in batches, to add some kind of bait, to offer terms or installments, to make product more exclusive or to hire a celebrity. Salesperson must be skilled in noticing when the person has already decided to buy the product and then not get benevolent beyond what is necessary. The strange rule of thumb is that there will be always people who will claim that the price is too high, even if you drop it just to production costs. So the rule is to raise the price until the share of people who complain about the price gets to about 20%. Of course if the share of complainers is more than 50% then one might consider that the price is actually too much or that the value of the product has not been presented properly.

The best way to justify the price is to find out what is the cost of the problem that your product is solving. The value of the product is thus never the production price but the potential money savings if the product would be purchased and used. And also the price is relative to the budget or context of the product or service that you offer. For a client with low budget your product would be considered expensive, but for the well funded client, no price is no matter. Also one should ask the client what characteristics of the product or service they desire.

And the strangest point that Mr. Lisac exposed is that many companies, especially startups go bankrupt because the price of the product is too low. One must always consider many costs, like production, marketing, accounting, salaries etc. so the profit margin has to be high enough to cover all expenses. One must calculate how much is needed not only to produce the product, but also how much money would be necessary to sell the product. For example there were two producers of the fitness device that both enable the same functionality. However the first one was prices 600 € and the second one 14.000 € and they both sell. The difference is that the advertising budget for the first model of device is only 200 € but for the second one is 13.000 €. So the produces of more expensive device can invest 65 times more expensive advertisement and thus also succeed in sales.

Day 88: Self-forgiveness on perfectionism

Days 86 and 87 are in my Slovenian blog

I was collecting contact information from web pages of entities that I was to contact and I intended to create a Google Maps custom layers with the position indicators of that entities. However for the Google to correctly recognize the address and creates a location marker, the street name has to be full length and completely correct otherwise it will not show up. And what I have found on the web sites of around half of entities, were the shortened or declined street names that I then had to individually reference in the search engine and identify the corresponding full name.

I forgive myself that I have allowed and accepted to become angry at the web site content creators that shortened or declined the street names instead of realizing that this is usually done in order to simplify long street descriptions and make them more friendly and not to deliberately make my life painful.

When I stumble upon a shortened or declined street name and if I for the purpose of automated information processing need a full long name, I stay here, breathe effectively and utilize the search engine until I get the required for of information.

A few days ago after a short but heavy rainy storm, a leak appeared in the wooden ceiling of my new apartment and the water drops created a big puddle on the floor.

I forgive myself that I have allowed and accepted to be angry at my landlady who did not inform me about the leaking ceiling instead of realizing that she could believe that the leak has been fixed.

When I notice some damaged part of the apartment that does not perform as I expect, I breathe effectively, stay here and peacefully communicate with the landlady in order to remediate the problem as soon as possible with mutual satisfaction.

I am preparing to sell some products via direct marketing and I am procrastinating with my outdoor activities since I perceive myself not to be ready and skillful enough in executing effective presentation.

I forgive myself that I have allowed and accepted the feeling of fear of rejection and loosing money since I perceive that I am not skillful enough instead of realizing that rejection in this lin of business is around 90% even if you are the most skillful communicator so it is purely a numbers game.

When I go out and make presentation of the product, in case of rejection I remain here, breathe effectively and understand that not every product is appropriate for every person at time of presentation and even if the person likes the product, they could be lacking of money or have different priorities in life. Thus I can always come around at a later stage and reattempt the sale. Many sales require around five attempts until the customer finally says yes and this is the true nature of this business.

Day 38: Additional challenges in regards to the new job

This morning I also had a visitor to my office who very resonated with the projects and groups that I am involved with. He was very excited about all the potentials and wanted to know what is the next step. So I gave him some additional materials that he will be able to research. Then also I young boy returned some educational material that I lent to him a couple months ago and he said that the reason for the return delay was due to discovery of cancer at his family. Since he believed in the modern medicine I enlightened him about the lies, deceptions and the corruptions that is especially dominant in the pharmaceutical industry and suggested him to read the Natural Cures book. And the information that shocked me yesterday that our Slovenia country currently holds the world record in the level of corruption based on the research of Ernst & Young. However in spite of the extreme amount of the FaceBook post that criticize the elite who apparently completely robbed out our country, and talks about financial crisis, current level of unemployment is still only 12% and that means that 88% of people have jobs. So this is definitely a stimulating information that would motivate me in being more confident about my sales activities.

In spite of all my effort to clear all the accepted and allowed negative believes about how the world state is, about the lot of money being too much temptation for anyone to handle, it seems that the mental pressure accumulated in the middle of my spine and it gives me not yet painful, however unpleasant feeling that distracts my attention, especially when I go to bed. Today in the afternoon I finished some new promotional material and planned to go out and do some new house visits, however in spite of nice weather, I started to feel a little dizzy. I had to lay down into bed and rest. From time to time I also experience heart arrhythmia if I think about certain things. I guess I worry to much about how things could come out. In most cases I simply focus on my breath and forgive myself the thought and the pulse stabilizes. However today when lying in bed, I felt like the pressure would be to low and my hearth would stop beating. Maybe this is because sometimes I just want to give it all up. I ask myself why do I bother doing all this, is there really no life possible without worries. Can there really be no place on earth where people are nice, the food is in abundance, and all can simply enjoy and express themselves?

Yesterday I watched a documentary titled Slaves of Dubai that exposes terrible working conditions of about 2 million imported workers from India who were promised a good salary, however immediately after arrival to Dubai, their passports were taken, they now have to work in very harsh conditions for low salary and most of them have not been payed for several months. I also watched a few war movies in the past few days that made me think about how stupid we are since we have to fight each other. And today I watched a movie about the Canadian supersonic military jet Arrow that was terminated purely due the egotistic political interests. This movie made me think how big some are able to dream and how great thins are possible to achieve it he pople work together.

I went then out in late evening when it was already dark to run across city park and streets. I wanted to relieve the accumulated tension in my back. I was surprised about the quantity of young visitors in the park and then soon find out why since the music started to become louder and louder. There was some rock music band having a concert and thousands of people occupied the park. However I did not want this to distract me and continued with the running towards the city center.

So it is quite silly in some way observing my mental resistances. I could be very glad for all that I have received in my life. Some have nothing to eat and suffer pain, diseases and war. However some control multibillion projects and employ thousands of people. I am now to decide what I want out of my life. I want more, however I will have to change from within. I think that currently what stopps me from moving forward is my bad feeling about charging others. My believes that one has to work hard and suffer in order to get the money. My new business could bring me good money if I do the work correctly and I am in a way already lazy due to thinking that I will be able to earn a lot of money very easy. It is a moral thing where I ask myself what is fair and what not. Why can some have to suffer for a couple of dollars per day, and some can earn or win millions in no time? Where is justice, where is equality? Is it justifiable that those who do more responsible jobs are to earn more? Are those who have low income really fully responsible for their low income? I there a god who controls everything? Is there a law of karma, the low of attraction or creation? Breathe!

Day 37: Resistance to the new job finally overcamed

Today in the morning I had a meeting with a new interesting person who is also very in self-research and improvement. Two hours of conversation went by very quickly and I was to face again the next step of my sales activities. I was to restructure the presentation narrative and then also realign the presentation flip-chart graphics which I also did. I took me a lot of decision making how to design all the material for the best impact. In the afternoon when I was to go out and arrange in-house visits, the storm clouds accumulated and rain with thunder stoke from the skies.

At the same time as the storm raged, my mind lost its stability. A slight fear and dizziness appeared in my head and was disappointed due to estimation that I will not be able to execute the visits that I planned. I lied down on the bed and started to think about how long will it take me to even start the new job properly and when I would actually make the first sale. The whole process is takin so long, too long. I started to imagine how I will give myself another day to prepare myself even better for the presentation. I said to myself that tomorrow would be the day. However it turned out different.

After on hour of resting in the bed, my head became stable and the rain stopped. I still had about two or three hours left before in would become too late for the home visits. So I sad to myself that it would be the best to make some visits today and thus brake the ice even if I would achieve best results. Most important is to move forward and to gain as much practice as possible. So I dressed up, packed all the presentation and went on the road.

I targeted a small new neighborhood that I knew from before when I was searching for my own apartment in the town a year ago. I found the blocks very nice and expected a lot of young families to live there which is my target population. I started to ring the bells and made the talks. Many of them, about 70% were not even at home which is a usual percentage. I visited two blocks and then decided to stop for today. I did not manage to do any presentation, however I handed out couple of business cards and couple of people were willing to talk to me if I visit them at some other time which is also cool.

In the evening I had a chat with my mentor who evaluated my approach and corrected me for the better effect in the future. I realized how what I said created resistance in other people and what is best to be said in order to collect as much orders as possible. The main point in pre-presentation talks is not to give to much information, but just a little in order to create curiosity. I also met a girl who I found very attractive and now I am thinking if I should do anything to check if she is available and if I should try to  make a connection or if I should focus on business for now.

Anyway, I made progress and I am satisfied with my achievement. I will now push myself every day a step forward until I became excellent and very successful in sales. It is not just about money, what is cool about direct sales is that one develops communication skills and overcomes many fears and resistances that prevent oneself to fully express itself. Physically moving and making live conversation with others is an effective tool for self-realization. Thus I also suggest others to engage in sales activities and experience all the beneficial effects of direct marketing.

Day 36: Resistance to the new job slowly ending

In the past two blogs I wrote about the resistance that I experience towards starting the new job of selling a new product via in-home presentations. Today was the first working day and I planned to go out and meet people in their apartments. In the morning I had a meeting with my friend at my place where we supported each other in regards most effective selling approaches. I then went to the local print shop and made some additional flip-chart graphics and also the badge with my picture and name that is suppose to be a very effective ice-braker when other will see me on their doorsteps. However I still did not found myself ready enough to go out and also the weather was not very appropriate since it rained.

Well the rainy weather could from one point be seen as advantage since people are at their apartments far more probably than in sunny weather. However it is not very easy for me to make the home visits in the rain since I also have to bring an umbrella and it is much more cold and slippery outside. I almost died once when I visited a customer a couple of years age in the evening and tripped. This definitely brings up a very disturbing memories. 

Then bottom line is that I just did not feel confident enough for doing the presentation today. I have not yet assembled all the quotes and flow of presentation that would make a good impression and convince the prospects in buying the product. So I will now structure all the point by condensing them down to titles and then expand them into paragraphs. I will reorder the flip-chart presentation to best follow the paragraphs. At the end I will prepare all the possible questions and objections and the best answers and explanations.

I will then practice the complete presentation in my mind and rewrite the complete scenario using blue ink and white paper to commit it to my long-term memory until it will be totally internalized. Then I expect to be fully prepared for the battle and will accept victory as the only outcome. Well I realize that someone could say NO in spite of me fully excelling however I want to be prepared for all possible scenarios and perform well. The main objective is to present the product by showing all the benefits for the prospect. I must be totally confident in the quality, functionality and value of the product while breathing effectively and staying emotionally stable. I realize that any question that prospect makes is just for them to make sure that their decision is the best.

Today I also read the book titled ”So you would like to sell?" for the second time. Is is short but very effective book on sales. To calm down, remove stress and clear nervousness, I made myself a first hot bath after several months and I enjoyed it very much. I then remembered a couple of additional techniques for diminishing stress. One is rebounding and the other is sauna. Jumping up and down on a mini trampoline is a simple but very effective exercise that benefits the whole body. And I remember how sauna assists in removing the toxins from the body and how also prevents the backchat. The heat in sauna stops the mind, one is unable to think but only be here, present in this moment.

From becoming overwhelmed by thinking about how I will be able to arrange all the information I found assisting to firstly imagine all the procedures in my mind while the physical body is resting. While working with computer one has to besides thinking what to do also think how to do it, what button to press, what software to use, what kind of document, what font, how to design the information and bunch of other things. So all these thinking drains the mental resources and distract attention from what actually has to be done. Thus imagining all the necessary steps firstly in the mind and doing some handwritten notes will assist me in completing the project.

I learned from the success club that I am member of that the false information that most people holds in the low income class all life is the believe that time for thinking and time for the practical execution of projects have to be in balance or equal. However the most successful people prove this to be wrong. The most important thing is thinking or planning and this is to be 99% without asking much about how the objectives would be achieved. The most important point is to come with a “what” and let flow of the actual events to create the “how”. This is because one is never able to be aware of all the potentials in existence and possible outflows of all the events. So let us see how all this will turn out in the following days.

Day 34: Resistance to the new job activities

Days 31, 32 and 33 are in my Slovenian blog

My new job of selling a new product created more resistance than I imagined. While I have been working mostly from home in the past years, and customers would be mostly business people that found me on the internet and came to my office to place an order, I am facing the job now where I will have to go to the customers. And they are not the business people but families with kids and different professions.

I have a mentor who is supporting me in becoming a better salesman and from what he thought me, I realized that I will have to change extensively. Until now I did not have to make a lot of effort in order to get an order since I worked in graphic and web design and photography. The products were commonly known and from my past work references the customers knew what to expect from me. Now I am selling a new product that is a new technology and nothing that has ever existed before. And also the use of the product bring a spectacular results in terms of personal development and transformation of the society as a whole.

The first challenge for me as a salesmen is to test and use the product myself. There can not be a good salesmen that tries to sell the product that he is not using himself. One has to become convinced that the product is of high quality and is beneficial for the user. Since the product requires mind activity, I experience resistance due to my addiction of watching movies and am thus finding reading much less attractive. I will have to discipline myself firstly to star using the product myself and see the result of its use on myself and that will then enable me to become more enthusiastic about the product and will thus also be able to make more sales. At sales in fact you are never selling the product, but yourself.

The second point is that selling this new product requires me to develop new skills and totally change my mindset, develop my self-esteem and transform my attitude towards other people. Throughout past several years I have developed introverted personality with constant evaluation and judgement of others. I was directed by others and became used to wait for the orders. I was basically in a very passive mental mode. The new job requires me to become proactive, to come forward, to make connection with others, ask question and become genuine interested in what other want and need. It is so that certain product can only be sold if it fulfills the needs of others. Thus I have to learn what are the problems and challenges in the life of others and how the product that I represent could solve that problems.

The third challenge is the price of the product that I am selling. The product covers the user needs for several years and is thus a long-term investment. Due to its unique technology, the long-term savings and the incredible benefits of its use it requires from customer to come with quite a lot of money. This bring me even in the bigger mental pressure. I have to become absolutely sure for myself that the product is more that worth of that kind of investment and that it is a life-time opportunity where customer is to find a way of getting the money since it is for its own best interest.

And the last point is that the products comes with such a marketing plan that creates a very good money-making opportunity for me. Due to extensive amount of accepted and allowed limited and destructive believes in regards money, I have a challenge allowing to come such quantity of money in my life.  I have to become convinced that I am worth of receiving money and become rich. I definitely already know how to spend it so that quality of all life on earth will become better and I have to understand that I will not be able to achieve that without firstly allowing a lot of money to come to me and thus becoming very rich.

The most challenging from me is the need of creating a more pleasant personality. So from being a quiet introverted serious person who answers only when asked, I will have to become more relaxed, opened, initiative and happy person. The best effect in sales is made if you smile during the product presentation. And this is very difficult to me. I have become used of being secretive, flat-faced, judgmental and angry. Being happy and joyful is a whole new experience to me, like bringing the fish out of the water. So I must change my personality, my resonances or my water extensively. And this is why I experience such massive amount of resistance that I never imagined.