Is Your Sales Game TOO Strong?
When I was a young sales rep, I was on fire. I had found a good mentor, I loved the products I was selling, and I was very energetic. Every day, I hustled to make as many calls as I could. I traveled excessively to see as many customers as humanly possible.
Everything was going great, and when I got together with my peers for sales meetings, I was the first one to raise my hand to offer ideas and suggestions during brainstorming sessions. I was also brutally honest with the product development team. I wasn’t shy at all about sharing with them what customers didn’t like, so we could make changes. And of course, I wanted those changes sooner, rather than later.
I really thought I was impressing everyone and doing well. Until one day, at the very tail end of a sales conference, my mentor, the woman I looked up to more than anyone, pulled me aside. I really thought she was going to tell me how impressed she was with all my success and hard work.
Instead, she said, “Katie, you have a bright future ahead of you, but you’re rubbing people the wrong way. You're coming on too strong, and relationships are one of the most important assets you’re going to have during your career. You need to tone it down a little and nurture those relationships.”
I was stunned. And hurt. How dare she? I was at the top of my game.
But as I walked around the room and saw groups gathered around talking to each other, I let her words sink in. Was she right? If I was really being honest, people maybe had respect for me, but did they like me?
That mentor changed my life. She held up a mirror for me, and it was incredibly painful to see the truth, but it allowed me to make changes. Changes that improved my career in so many ways, and opened so many roads for me, as I nurtured friendships and relationships that have lasted for decades now.
Not everyone is going to like us, and that's okay. We have to like ourselves first and foremost. But it's also okay to make changes and improvements. Never be afraid to admit you could do better. We can all do better.
As the years have passed, I've thought about that day often, and have been so thankful for her words. There is no doubt I would not be where I am today without them.
