You get to choose your beliefs. You also get to choose the actions that you take. You don’t get to choose the consequences of your beliefs or your actions.
You Are Left With No Choice
You may believe that you can win your dream client without spending the time necessary to developing the relationships that you need. Because you believe this is true, you don’t work to make the necessary connections up and down their organization chart, and you don’t identify their buying committee.
You get to choose to have the belief that you can win without really knowing your dream client, and you get to choose not to act to develop relationships. But you don’t get to choose the consequence of not having developed the relationships that would cause your dream client to choose you over your competitors. You also don’t get to choose the consequences of not having developed the trust that would enable your dream client to believe that you care about them or the outcomes they need. These are the natural consequences that result from your beliefs and your actions.
You may also believe that nurturing your dream client relationships isn’t really necessary. You may believe and act as if your dream client will call you when they become dissatisfied, and that because you work for a large, recognized company, that you will have the opportunity to compete.
You don’t get to choose the consequences of the failure to nurture your dream clients, which include you not being known when they decide that they are dissatisfied enough to move their business and you not having developed a long history as a value creator. These are the natural consequences of the failure to nurture relationships when your dream client wasn’t a hot opportunity.
You are only permitted to choose your beliefs and your actions. You have no control over the consequences.
Going With the Grain, Not Against It
There is nothing that has a greater impact on your sales results than your beliefs. If your beliefs and your actions are aligned with the natural consequences that you need to move your big deal dream client opportunity through your pipeline, you succeed in sales. But your beliefs and your actions may also produce natural consequences that mean you lose more deals than you win.
You can choose to work against the natural consequences of a certain set of beliefs and actions, and occasionally, you may even be lucky enough to win. But it is easier and healthier to align your beliefs and your actions with the natural consequences of the actions that you take.
Questions
What are the natural consequences of the actions that you take?
What beliefs drive those actions?
If the sales situation were reversed and you were the buyer, would the actions you normally take as a salesperson and the beliefs that drive them produce the natural consequences that would make it likely that you would buy?
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