4 Ways to Restore Your Sanity on A Bad Sales Day
You approached the day with the best of intentions. Your task list was full of promise and your new promotion gave you a super enthusiastic outlook.
All good.
Until it went all bad.
The fight with your teenager before you left the house made for tough start, but a really interesting podcast helped get you back on track.
The traffic ticket totally ticked you off. A rolling stop? Really? Aren’t there real criminals out there the police can go after!
Still, there was a new workday in front of you. Still plenty of time to see, uhhh… your strongest prospect has left a voice mail telling you they are going with your number one competitor.
How could that happen? You already calculated the commission. Okay, admit it – you already SPENT the commission!
Still, there’s time to save the day… until the mandatory two-hour meeting on workplace safety – just what you needed. (!@#?$&@!)
Dealing with Reality
We must deal with a common fact in the world of sales: we only have limited control over our environment. Despite your plans for a productive day, there is a constant stream of variables that can pop up and rob us of our productivity.
That being the case, it’s wise to recall an old adage. “Worry is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.”
You can only control what you can control. However, you can control what you can control.
Sometimes all it takes is to step back and reassess what you CAN control in the situation.
4 Steps to Restoring Your Sanity
Here is a very powerful exercise to run through on those tough days.
Step One: Take a piece of paper and write down everything that concerns you. List every issue, frustration, worry and problem. Don’t self-edit; just write.
Step Two: Go through the list and circle everything over which you have control.
Step Three: Put a line through everything that you did not circle.
Step Four: Take action. Prioritize the list and immediately take action on the one item that will make the biggest impact on your day.
Bad days are a fact of life. The BIG QUESTION is how are you going to let it affect you. Control what you can control, and you can get that bad day back on track.