How to Recover from a Bad Day in Sales

It's like Re-Booting your Computer

I remember the days when I used to have windows 98 on my computer and it was so unstable with all the software I had installed on it. The blue screen of death was a common occurrence and the only way to solve it was by re-booting my machine. Well in sales if you're having a bad day one of the only ways to get yourself back on track again is to re-boot your brain. Okay, this is all very nice and easy to say in theory, but how do you get out of a negative frame of mind when the sales just aren't coming? The answer can be found in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and it's called "reframing"

When I fail to kick-start my day in the right way I know I'm going to have to do something to adjust my negative thinking and I do this by reframing my thoughts. I find it easier to see things in perspective when I visualise myself outside of my working environment. I close my eyes and imagine myself on a beautiful tropical island walking along a sandy beach with a deep blue sea, without a care in the world. I then put an imaginary frame around the image in my mind. I then try to make the frame as real as possible with my colour of preference etc. After a few minutes I open my eyes to a new mind-set and a blank canvas. I know it sounds a bit silly but the brain is a bit like a computer memory. You feed it with information and it processes it accordingly. You may need to try a few different things to discover what works best for you but it's worth the effort.
Put Yesterday Behind You

Sometimes the best time to re-write your goals is after a bad day of selling. Just blank your brain and start all over again! Create a new vision with a new approach. One of the great things about a career in selling is that you can always put yesterday behind you and have a better day today. If you don't have this way of thinking you'd better start adopting it. In general from what I've seen, people who dwell too much on yesterday's problems don't make very good sales people.

Look at the Bigger Picture

Working in sales is often like a rollercoaster of mood swings. Sometimes this is due to events that we have no control over, but in most cases we can do something about it with the right attitude. One bad day is not significant if you've had lots of other good days. What I mean here is if you look back at the past month or the past year, what have you achieved in sales? I'm sure there were lots of positive achievements. You need to focus your mind on these positive results to give yourself the self-esteem to march forward on your journey towards success.

Accept Responsibility for your Actions

On a final note I think that anybody can have a bad day in sales and it often says little or nothing about your capabilities as a sales person on the whole. However one mistake that I see lots of sales people making, is to blame everything around them for their troubles. I believe this does nothing to help you move on from your negative day. It's much better to accept at least the majority of the responsibility for a bad day of selling and move on to better things. I know this isn't always easy but it's the sign of the true professional in this business. If you want to be a real pro in sales you need to be 100% accountable for your actions.

David Lynch is a Sales Training Designer & Accomplished Author. He has more than 20 years experience in a variety of industries including software, insurance & hospitality. If you would like to learn more sales skills from David you can download a Free Copy of his E-book "25 Mistakes To Avoid When Selling" at http://www.saleswillgrow.com/freesalestraining2.html