O MANNY's

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin More Sharing Services Share on email Share on print Your phone is silent. Your emails are unreturned. Your prospect program's a dud. Which of the following is most likely responsible?
 a) your selling technique
b) the way you spend your workday
c) your attitude

You might be surprised to learn that attitude is king, according to Merit.

Here's why: "A lot of times people will say, 'OK, it's a down market. Let me work on my pitch,'" she says. Working on your pitch, however, is technique, not attitude.

You won't bring in the deals if you're not out there prospecting – even if you've got the greatest technique in the world. Prospecting for clients is a behavior. If you don't truly believe there are sales waiting to be made (yes, even in this economy), then making 100 phone calls and having the perfect script won't help. You may, for example, find yourself prefacing your conversations with self-defeating statements, such as, "I know you don't have the budget right now, but…" That's attitude.

Putting it all together, technique is trumped by behavior, which is trumped by attitude. Gest says that even if sales professionals are showing up to networking events, for example, that doesn't mean they're getting an "A" in the attitude department. She gives this example: "If people don't know how to network, that's a technique issue. Or if they're not showing up at these events, that's a behavior issue. But if their mind-set is, 'There's no business out there; what's the point of going?' that's an attitude issue. It's always going to come back to attitude."

 – Selling Power Editors