[E10] Mindset Week: It’s Not Personal, It’s Business

I am sure you have heard that expression, “It’s not personal, it’s business!” When it comes to sales I have a strong argument in favor of that statement, as well as one against it. Listen to the last episode of Mindset Week to hear how I can defend both sides for sales professionals who are truly focused on doing the right thing for prospects to achieve their own goals and that see sales as an act of service and duty to others.

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Email: Would love to hear from you, or help in any way that I can – [email protected]

Episode 10 – Transcript

Welcome to Episode 10 of The Sales Experience Podcast. My name is Jason Cutter I appreciate you joining me on this journey of discovering ways that will help you change the way you sell to be intentional about selling to your prospects as a way to serve them, solving their problems, and creating that sales experience people crave in this age of devices and distractions.

This is the final episode of our week of mindset focus. Five days of 10-minute conversations can only scratch the surface of how to shift your mindset when it comes to your sales career. And I will probably do another round of mindset episodes in the future, but these were the top five fundamental areas of mindset that I felt are important to salespeople and sales leaders.

For my last chance to help impact your mindset I want to visit the expression – “It’s not personal, it’s business.” I think this is a very impactful statement when it comes to sales. On one end, this would be my number one advice to any sales rep.

Why? Because it can be tough to be a sales rep. Prospects saying no, people getting upset for what seems to be no reason. But its tough to not take it person. But remember – its not personal, its business. I mean, its nothing personal against you and what you are selling, unless you are treating people bad or scamming people – then you should take it personal.

For everyone who believes in their product or service and is trying to make a living as a professional sales person, its not personal. Always remember this one key thing – everyone is going through something in life. Some people hide it better than others, but everyone has something. Something crappy going on, something stressful, something they aren’t happy about, and maybe even something that they hope no one finds out about.

I cannot even count the number of times in my life that has been true for me. I am gonna guess always. As they say – you are either about to enter a storm, in the middle of a storm, or just got finished with one. Everyone is going through something – I can guarantee it. Its called Life. Sometimes it is small and other times it could be big – health issues, relationships, financial, career. Recently I went through 3 different storms at once and my life felt like the Bermuda Triangle.

I mention this all because when your prospect hangs up on you, or tells you they aren’t interested – there are times when it is your fault for not doing a good enough job at the sales process, but it could be they are dealing with Life. When you call and leave them that 5^th message, don’t take it personal.

When you are going through something, and someone keeps calling to try and sell you their product or service – it’s probably the last thing on your mind at that time. When someone calls you to yell at you and complain about your company, unless you or your company did make a mistake, don’t take it personal. I bet there is something else going on in their life that is triggering this.

Now – for the counter argument against the saying ‘It’s not personal, its business’ – which is to look at your sales role as very personal. When you take it personal as your mission to serve through selling, to improve people’s lives with your product or service, and to help them transform some area big or small – then its not just business. It might seem like its just a transaction, but its more than that. This is how you can help make an impact on others.

There is transformation opportunities within every sale – hopefully in good ways. And its hard to facilitate transformations in your prospects without making it personal. Not taking it personal, but make it about them – as a person – and how you are serving them.

And again, this applies to anything from helping someone get out of debt, get into an addiction rehab treatment program, buy a car or a couch or insurance, get a mortgage and buy a home. Even if something just seems like a non-life changing consumer transaction, to that person it is important. To them its personal. If you want to win at the long game of sales – make your mission personal with each prospect.

And on the flip side, like I said earlier, remember its business – so if they don’t react how you expect, they might be going through something. Don’t let it get you down, just keep going. Focus your mindset on serving and on not stopping each day until you find people to serve through sales.

Now – the one caveat to this is that if every person you talk to hangs up on you, or gets mad, or wont answer your calls – then it might actually be something you are doing to cause that! But that is a topic for another episode.

That’s it for episode 10, and for mindset week. Again, this is just scratching the surface. I will put some suggested resources in the show notes, and if you are looking for help in a specific area, send me an email to [email protected] or find me on LinkedIn and I can point you in some specific directions. And if you have questions, comments, or suggestions – I would love to hear from you.

Until next time, always remember that everything in life is sales and people will remember the experience you gave them.