Just as water, nutrients and oxygen are essential to the optimal function and survival of the human body there are a number of elements essential to the development and sustainment of confidence in sales pros. So if you want unwavering confidence in the face of market challenges, concrete-nosed clients, daily rejection, and all of the other hard knocks associated with selling, here are five sources of pure sales O².

Bottom line if you don't have a powerful reason to call Fred, then don't call Fred until you do. (And I mean a powerful reason from Fred's perspective, not yours!)  Translation: do your homework on Fred and his company, know your value in context of what's important to Fred and, above all, make sure YOU believe it.  In B2B sales if you're selling something you don't believe in, you have three options:

For years I've witnessed two types of seller.  Those who place calls hoping they'll make a sale.  And those who get on the phone / show up for meetings with an unwavering belief that they have something of real value to this buyer based on research and evidence.  The difference in the seller's confidence, and in the customer's response, is profound.

Something I learned from an extraordinary sales and marketing expert years ago stuck with me, and has been a confidence booster in both my work and life.  "The human mind is the greatest creator of fiction." 

Let me explain. 
 
Let's say you've decided to call higher up the food chain in your prospect companies.  You leave a number of messages for two executives and you never hear back. What happens?  An annoying little voice inside your head goes on a rampage with comments like, "Executives don't respond to sellers," or "I'm not important enough," or "I'm useless at this."  This is all fiction!

Let's take a look at the facts.
 
Fact # 1: You've made two calls. 
Fact # 2:  You have not received a call back - yet. 
Period. 
 
Maybe one executive is fighting a raging fire elsewhere in his organization.  Maybe the other was flattened by a bus outside his office just as he was trying to reach you on his blackberry. 
 
The point is... you don't know.  So don't believe the works of fiction created by your little voice unless you have evidence. Fiction erodes confidence and paralyses action.  Focus on the facts.
 
As a foot note to this, here's a fact:  It's bad sales practice to expect a response from any customer.  ALWAYS have a follow up strategy.

Create options

Options and alternatives are a great source of sales O².  Desperate sales people lack inner confidence.  And guess what? To the customer they sound like desperate sales people.  Have enough qualified leads in your pipeline so that you know you have alternatives and options.  How? Use personal marketing strategies to attract good prospects; be prolific, and focused, in your networking activity; develop systems to generate referrals; and use the new web tools to source your ideal customers.  Knowing you have other strong business opportunities in the pipeline enables you to confidently deal with negative responses, avoid caving into price pressure, and remain positive.

Beef up your business acumen

Too many sales lambs end up as Sunday dinner because they try to call at a senior level simply because some sales trainer or manager said they should. If you don't speak the language of an executive, don't call there. Either get someone else to call at that level or do what I believe every B2B sales pro must do.  Develop business acumen.  Know how business works.  Know what's important to each level of decision maker.  And know this... it sure as heck isn't your product.   Read business books, take courses, understand key financial measures. (One of the most valuable courses of my sales career was a "finance for non-financial managers" program I took on my own dime.)  And learn about business through your interactions with your most successful customers.

Have a sales process/ methodology

When I ask my new corporate clients if they currently have a "sales process" I'm always surprised at how many respond, "No."  And I'm equally fascinated to hear many of our workshop participants cite "having the structure of a finite sales process" as one of their most valuable take-aways.
 
Having a sales process makes it clear where you are heading and what you must do next - to ensure continuous forward movement in the buying process.  Having a process enables a rep who hits a road block to confidently and instantaneously diagnose the problem and take the right action to get the customer relationship back on track.
 
So if you feel your confidence lagging, revisit this list and pump up your oxygen intake to operate at maximum performance. And remember, there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Arrogance can kill a sales opportunity.   You want to get your toes right up to the line without crossing it.

Good selling!