How to See Past Sales Adversity & Find the Greater Good
My husband is amazing in so many ways. He is smart, talented, driven and caring.
His career has primarily been in homebuilding, but during his “finding himself” years and while considering pursuing medicine as a career path, he worked briefly at a hospital in Washington DC for a transplant consortium.
Simply put, he was the person who went in to speak with a family while their loved one was dying or had recently passed to discuss organ donation. Tough job. Emotional job. Rewarding job.
And, while he would shiver at me calling it this – it was also a sales job.
He doesn’t discuss his time in that role much because I think the emotional impact of those conversations still runs deep for him.
What he does say it that it was fulfilling to help others look past their own devastating pain, even for a brief moment, and find some happiness in helping others.
To find some happiness in the midst of sales adversity is a true gift. And that’s what true selling is all about – helping others better their lives and achieve deeper levels of true happiness.
Finding the Good In Sales Adversity
While organ donation from a recently lost loved one is an extreme example of adversity in our life, we all face adversity almost daily — especially in sales.
You might face problems with a co-worker, dealing with a demanding or difficult client, or dealing with a deeper, more emotional personal issue. Sales adversity is everywhere and, while you can’t avoid it, you can control what you do with it.
Find the good in every situation. Learn and grow. Adapt where necessary.
Ask yourself in every difficult situation: What can I learn from this going forward? How will this change me for the better? How can I help others from this experience?
Look for the lessons and the sales adversity becomes a learning milestone not a barrier to your success and happiness.
Finding Happiness Through Helping Others
When you feel bad or are facing adversity in your own life, instead of focusing on yourself, help others as a way to move through and past the difficult time.
It may seem odd to suggest that the best way for you to feel better is to make others happy, but evidence shows that this approach is the best way to bring yourself more joy.
In a study done by Harvard University and The University of British Columbia, researchers asked participants to remember a time when they bought something for themselves and then remember a time when they bought something for another person.
Researchers took measurements after each recall and it was clear that participants were much happier when recalling a time when they did something for another person.
The second part of the study uncovered an even more interesting discovery.
The same participants were given a small amount of money and told they could anonymously spend it on themselves or someone else. They told participants to choose the one that would make them happier.
The happier the participants felt about their past generosity, the more likely they were to spend the money on someone else, thus producing a type of “positive feedback loop” between kindness and happiness.
Simply said – kindness and happiness encourages each other. Engaging in a kind deed makes you happy and then more likely to continue your altruistic behavior. Make sense?
The lesson for all of us in sales is this: Life is tough. Your buyers’ lives are tough. Find any and all opportunities to move through the sales adversity and participate in acts of kindness towards yourself and others.
It will not only make you happier but you also might just change someone’s world.
