Champion gymnast Simone Biles suffered the “twisties” the first week of the Olympics and dropped out of the competition, only to return a week later with her needed mental reset to win a bronze medal. The “twisties” is a condition in gymnastics where the brain and body go out of sync, making it extremely dangerous if you have to twist in the air and land on your feet. The “twisties” can happen in sales as well when your mind and your performance go equally out of sync. When that happens, here are some thoughts on what to do and what NOT to do.
Having a Bad Day
Everyone has them. You wake up tired, or you’ve had a string of lost sales, or you feel overwhelmed. There are any number of reasons why your mind can get negatively “twisted” and put you off your game. Negative energy like that gets communicated to those around you, so actions like making even more calls, giving a major presentation, or trying to do even more work are all likely to lead to further disappointment or failure.
Time for a Re-Set
Acknowledge the problem; don’t fight it. Then, work on both the mental and physical aspects of the job.
1. Mental: Rebuild your reservoir of positive mental energy
- Remind yourself of all your past wins and strengths
- Review any client thank you letters and recommendations on LinkedIn
- Remind yourself of how much you (your service or product) have really helped others
- Ask a (close) colleague or friend to tell you how good you really are (I did that once years ago after I lost my own self-confidence and won a multi-thousand dollar contract right afterwards)
- Think of all the people who support you in your work (family, colleagues, managers, clients, others)
2.Physical: Change your activities for that day
- Review your recent calls and see if you can pinpoint what went wrong & take remedial actions
- Get out of your chair and off Zoom and do something physical: take a walk around the block; run; exercise; meditate; garden; other
- Do non-client facing work: planning, research; learn a new skill; other
- Do something fun: go out to lunch; play with your kids; other
Refreshed & Read to Go
It took Simone Biles a week to get her mojo back. It need only take you a day to do the same. There is no shame in getting an attack of sales “twisties.” It happens to everyone at some point. Like the best athletes, the best salespeople commit to the necessary steps to get through the twisties to land back on their (sales) feet as quickly as possible.
Anne Miller
Words Matter – Make What You Say Pay!
Photo by Alex Smith on Unsplash
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