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I read an interesting article the other day which outlined the key issues between positivity and authenticity.

The author described how in seeking to maintain 100% positivity, when a prospective customer declined his offer, the psychological jolt he experienced was not only painful, but it required him to reconsider and reset his mental approach.

He suggested that positivity could be like a drug, and like a drug, the ‘come-down’ following a disappointment could be very damaging to our wellbeing.

He changed his approach to ‘authenticity’. In this way, he accepted his shortcomings, used any setback to reshape his approach, and allowed himself to acknowledge all aspects of his strengths, weaknesses, preferences and emotions. In short, to admit he was human.

Once I had read this I reflected on my own approach.
I display positivity and I look for positivity in others. Is this ‘authentic’ to myself, to my psyche? I believe it is. I genuinely enjoy being around people and enjoying their successes as much as my own.

However, whenever I am asked ‘how are you?’ invariably I say ‘great thanks’, even if I do not feel it. Why? Because I learned early on that answering negatively to this question elicited little more than a slight murmur of sympathy and I was eventually avoided. The longer the friendship, the longer they would listen before avoiding. Nobody likes a grumbler! Although my approach was truly authentic, it taught me that it is human nature to avoid the negative unless you are a true and caring friend. From then on, I adopted a slightly more positive response. Interestingly, I found that the more I talked positively, the more positive I felt!

I use the same in return. If I am taking to a friend and I suspect they are being falsely positive, I will ask them twice. ‘No really, how are you?’ Then I get the authentic answer.

As with most aspects of the mind and its involvement in working practices, both approaches are needed, and it is up to the individual what balance between the two they wish to achieve.

Now, I simply acknowledging that both approaches are needed and their selection will depend on the individual, the situation, and the other people involved. I find it interesting that the more aware of both, and the more aware I am of my feelings and preferences, the better balance I achieve between the two.

How do you feel about this? Are you too positive? Perhaps you are too negative? Could you be more authentic?

Let me know your thoughts, or if you have any further questions, why not get in touch? You can do so HERE or by email directly!

15 years ago, I formed Salient Sales & Training and every day has been different.  Testimonials received have been very positive and great motivators.  I am still thoroughly enjoying it.

From Physicist to Electronics Engineer, to technical sales to general sales, and finally, to running Salient, the business and life lessons I have learned along the way have served me and my clients well.  Of the 200+ companies and considerably more delegates I have trained, coached or mentored, each one has been both a challenge and a reward.

Here’s to the next 15 years!

15th Anniversary Special Offer

Any Salient training course or programme* booked before the end of February 2023 will be given the option of a free extra module, to be selected from the following list: (others will be considered)

Selling Yourself	The Psychology of Sales
Smart Networking	Practical Decision Making
Time Management	Self-Inspiration & Motivation
High Level Prospecting	Positive Ethical Influencing

* Courses and programmes are defined as any booking for a minimum of two days training or coaching and apply to general sales, technical sales and sales management.

(The offer does not apply to 1 to 1 coaching days, the Mentoring Programme or ‘Salient Gems’.)

I have won an award!

In the AI Global Media, Corporate Social Responsibility Awards 2022, Salient has been awarded the Best Ethical Training Course Provider in the UK!

My latest offer: ‘Salient Gems’

These are perfectly formed 3 – 5 minute video ‘bites’, each of which explains a tip, skill or technique useful in sales or business development.

They were chosen by the team I trained from Samsung Semiconductors.  At the end of every course or programme I ask the delegates to list three of the best ideas from each of the 8 to 10 Salient modules that have made up their full programme. The Samsung team of ten chose 44 in all and I added another 8 recommended by other customers and so we now have 52 Salient Gems.

Released at one per week, these will serve you all year.  At just £120 for the set, your return on investment will be significant, even if you just apply a few of them to your business.

You can pay for the full year, or sign up to a monthly payment of just £10.  Both payment options and details are available online at www.salientsales.co.uk

Testimonials

This newsletter features some of the feedback from Samsung Semiconductor delegates

(4-day sales programme given in Munich):

• “Really well explained”
• “Highly professional”
• “Fulfilling today’s demand”
• “Demonstrated great experience in sales”
• “Good style of presenting”
• “It was a real pleasure to learn sales techniques”

Tip of the day

Need some ‘bread-and-butter’ income?  Subscription products are a great way of doing this. Can you make something available to people that can be drip-fed to them, weekly or monthly?  Promote it, sell it and you have a useful regular income.

Clearly, the advantage to the customer is that they do not have to make significant outlay and can spread the cost over an agreed time period. 

It’s another Salient Win-Win!

Do you believe in the ‘Field of Dreams’ approach?

This is where people or businesses build their presence online, or build a variety of marketing initiatives, and then sit back and wait for new customers to knock on their doors.  They believe that this is enough effort to build a business.

Hence the belief that ‘If you build it, they will come’; the Field of Dreams’ approach.

I am now experiencing this going a stage further with Lead Generation companies.  They appear to have a similar approach.  The latest I have seen was a video of the owner saying how effective their cold calling process is (cold calling is for another blog!)  He explained that his strategy can ‘continuously feed new leads into your pipeline and, therefore, have consistent sales coming into your pipeline and so we have solved that challenge’.

Well, not really.

The supposition is that if you have leads you will automatically have sales.

You see, if you have no skills in sales and selling you have collected all these leads and have little chance of converting them into sales.  You will have spent all this money on the cold calling, and all you have is cold leads, no sales, and no business.

If you have some sales skills, you may be able to convert some of them.  However, you are probably wasting more than half of the opportunities you have accumulated, wasted half the funds you have invested.

My advice would be, until you have had some sales training or coaching and learned how to convert a significant proportion of those leads, then don’t waste your money on expensive marketing or lead generation.

By all means invest in a variety of marketing and lead generation ideas, whether you do them yourselves of outsource them, but first, make sure you are skilled at opportunity or lead conversion.  Make sure you can negotiate and secure (close) the best deals.

I will not attempt a sales pitch here, but, before you invest in such initiatives, find yourself a good, ethical and experienced sales coach or trainer and book yourself a course or session with them!