Nine Attitudes for Sales Success

Ask any sales expert, and they’ll tell you that the right attitude is essential for success. But it’s not just one attitude that’s necessary—there are several. I would suggest there are nine different—but related—attitudes you need to nurture in order to be successful in sales.

1. Optimism
I have never met a successful salesperson or business owner who was a pessimist. Successful people—in all fields, in fact—believe they are going to be successful. And that belief plays a huge role in their eventual success. Top salespeople believe they’re going to close the sale and they act accordingly

2. Confidence
In survey after survey, confidence is the #1 factor in people’s buying decisions. And because confidence is contagious, confident salespeople tend to instill confidence in their prospects. Which means you need to be confident in your company, your products and services, and above all, yourself.

3. Humility
Contrary to what some people believe, humility is not the opposite of confidence. It actually goes hand-in-hand with it. Because unchecked confidence leads to arrogance, which often leads to spectacular failure, because few people want to work with an arrogant jerk. Humility keeps the ego in check. A person who possesses humility recognizes that they aren’t the center of the universe. They are happy to share credit when things go right and take responsibility when things go wrong. They know that no matter how good they are, they can always get better; no matter how much they know, there is always more to learn.

4. Tenacity
Success is rarely quick or easy. It often takes years of struggle. In many industries, a single sale can take years. Which means you need to be determined. You need to be in it for the long haul. Repeated studies show that many salespeople give up after a single interaction or a single objection. The successful ones keep at it.

5. Resiliency
You can do everything right and still fail. There are so many factors beyond your control. And sometimes your product or service simply isn’t the best fit for your prospect. The question is how well do you bounce back from a lost sale? Or a big mistake? Or a bad quarter?

6. Service
Sales is service and service is sales. Successful salespeople understand that their job is to serve people: prospects, customers, company owners, and each other. The more they can be of service, the more valuable they are to their buyers and their company.

7. Respect
No one likes to feel disrespected. Top salespeople and business owners know this and are respectful to everyone, including:

• Prospects
• Customers
• People who didn’t buy from them
• Their staff
• Their bosses
• Gatekeepers
• Vendors
• Colleagues
• Competitors

8. Love
I don’t mean to get all mushy on you, but love is an underrated business attitude. You need to love what you do, who you do it with, and who you do it for. When you love where you work, your enthusiasm goes up and your stress level goes down. When your employees feel loved, they work harder and produce better results. When prospects feel loved and cared about, they not only buy, they buy more.

9. Gratitude
Sincere gratitude fuels the other attitudes on this list. Successful salespeople and business owners are continuously grateful for everything in their lives, including:

• Their successes
• The lessons learned from their failures
• Opportunities
• Mentors and coaches
• Family
• Friends
• Their health
• Customers
• Employees
• And much more

If you want to achieve greater success, ask yourself: “Which of these attitudes could I be better at? How could I develop and strengthen them?” Because the more you embrace and exhibit all nine of these attitudes, the more sales you’ll make, the more impact you’ll create, and the more success you’ll attain.