The best sales professionals and entrepreneurs strike a balance in their approach to growing their business. You want your personality to shine through when you’re engaging with prospects, and you want to keep the conversation on track and focused on finding a solution to their problem. 

If you’re focusing too much on yourself, or trying to act like the salesperson you think you should be, you might fall into some of these common traps of overcompensation.

Falling in Love With the Hustle
Hard work is important. Creating disciplines is important. No argument here. 

But, it isn’t everything. Grinding away and hustling to close deals is not a sustainable approach. Planning, reflection, evaluation, and adaptation are just as important as the execution. 

Make sure you are setting aside time to work IN your business and ON your business. And be sure to check in with yourself to ensure that your efforts are in alignment with your goals, meaningful, and leading to fulfillment in your life and business. 

Doing Everything On Your Own
The willingness to take control of your destiny is important. Also, in some cases, Napoleon’s advice of “if you want something done, do it yourself” certainly applies. 

But the reality of every success in life is that others are involved and contribute more than we often realize or acknowledge. 

The ability to trust in others and see that trust rewarded is an awesome feeling and should be one we pursue often. 

Embrace the value of teamwork, delegation, clear and effective communication, and recognizing that there are others in both your life and your business who can offer talents and gifts that you may not offer in the same capacity.

Becoming Too Much of an “Order Taker”
Being able to provide quality customer and client service is a valuable aspect of almost every single successful business. 

But in our search to bring on new business, don’t fall into the trap of becoming an order taker. 

You have real talent and value to provide your clients. Don’t forget your value. Don’t fall into the trap of just doing everything you are asked to do. 

While your prospects and clients may think that is what they want from you, that might not be what they need from you. They need you to help them identify and solve their problems, period.

Convincing Yourself That Everything is About Relationships
If you know anything about me, you know that I think relationships are incredibly important. So much of our lives and business is based on the relationships we are able to make and maintain. 

But it isn’t everything, especially in sales. 

Your business will thrive if you bring value to other people. It is that simple.

Sometimes that value can be enhanced with a healthy and fruitful relationship, but more often than not, it is by helping people get from where they are to where they want to be. 

Prioritize creating this future for your prospects and your clients over being their “best friend”.

Viewing Yourself as a “Consultant”
Consultants are incredibly valuable to their clients. But if you are responsible for revenue, strive to be a consultative sales professional over being a consultant. 

Remember: your income is based on production.

A consultant is always ready to solve problems and share their expertise. Consultants are ready to dive right into solutions and use their past experiences to sometimes assume present circumstances.

But the best consultative sales professionals withhold all the solutions and the problem solving until they truly understand the problem. They have the discipline to keep their solutions to themselves until they are sure that it is the best possible solution.

The best way to make sure you strike a balance is to (1) remain self-aware and (2) learn a sales system. 

Remain Self-Aware
You’ll want to get yourself in the habit of reflecting back on how you are showing up in interactions with prospects and clients. Are you feeling in-balance, authentic, and confident? Or are you feeling out-of-balance and like conversations are forced or inauthentic? 

Which of these behavioral traps are you most likely to fall into? What are indicators you notice in yourself when you slip into these behavioral traps (i.e. “I know I am being too much of an “order taker” when I _____.”)

It’s important to be aware of how you show up, and remain connected to how you can improve.

Learn a Sales System
By learning a solid sales system, you give yourself some bumpers and boundaries to keep you on track during conversations with prospects. Without a system, you might find yourself relying on old tendencies of people-pleasing, or pushing until you hear what you want to hear. A sales system will give you parameters to follow along, and grant you permission to show up as your authentic self in the meantime. 

When you’ve trained yourself to do things such as set expectations at the beginning and end of the conversation and gather information about the emotional impact of the problem, you’re not going to be worried about whether or not the prospect likes you personally, and you won’t be looking at them as a number to close.

Your sales system is your friend. 

If you don’t have a system yet, I invite you to consider joining our next Accelerator program on April 13th. This 6-week program will teach you everything about the SAYA System, from start to finish.

Questions? Thoughts on this article? Book a call with me here. I would love to talk to you!