When you think of the word ‘sales’ or ‘selling’… does it conjure up a negative image? Do you immediately think of a used car salesman?

That’s completely normal. But savvy business owners learn to change that image in their minds. Why? Because it makes all the difference between achieving your business goals or not.

If your business is not steadily growing, then one of the most likely culprits is your mindset – something you believe conflicts with your business goals. When this happens, you will always sabotage your success and achieve less than you deserve because your brain seeks to maintain congruence.

That means your brain will cause your actions to match your beliefs. So, for example, if you believe that selling is a ‘dirty word,’ but you also have a goal to achieve $X in sales this year, your brain will cause you to sabotage your selling efforts because your goal conflicts with your belief. So what’s the solution?

First, you must recognize the beliefs – or mindsets – that do not support your goals. Do any of these sound familiar: 

• Money doesn’t grow on trees
• I’m not talented or smart enough
• Money is the root of all evil
• Salespeople are pushy
• You have to be a natural born salesperson to be successful, etc. 

Whatever you heard growing up, or believe about sales, write it down.

The next step is to reframe those unsupportive mindsets. The goal is to recognize that whatever you believe is not an absolute fact. In fact, the opposite is true for many people. Once you realize that your mindsets are simply opinions –NOT facts – it is just as easy to believe the opposite.

One of the most famous examples of this is that prior to 1954, no one believed it was possible to run a mile in under 4 minutes. No one had done it before, so people believed it to be a ‘fact’, and a plausible one at that. Then Roger Bannister came along and proved everyone wrong. He chose a winning mindset. He chose to believe that it was possible to run a mile in under 4 minutes, despite overwhelming proof to the contrary.

And in 1954 at Oxford University, he did prove everyone wrong. He ran the mile in under 4 minutes. But what was more astounding? Only 46 days later, another man broke the 4-minute mile! And countless runners have done it since.

So the next time you think that what you believe is a fact, think again! You just may break a record of your own!

To learn more, register for a complimentary 3-part series, “Three Secrets to Closing Higher Paying Clients Who Love Working With You.”

Maria Bayer, the Authentic Sales Coach for Design Success University, shows interior designers how to take charge of their clients and make more money without being salesy.