You’re listening to the podcast Deals on Heels by business mentor Lotje Euser

Hello everyone! My name is Lotje Euser, I’m a business coach for entrepreneurs and businesses that want to fall in love with sales. I’m a big sales passionate, I have developed my own concept of feminine sales that is all about helping customers make empowered decisions and it’s my goal to help more women get to the top. 

So I’m wondering: How are you doing? Are you enjoying the summer?

I’ve spent 2 long weekends in Barcelona and London, and it was so nice to really explore those cities and just get detached from all business things. I went together with my boyfriend and we had such a great time!

This year I’ve been traveling quite a lot, but for business mostly, so these casual trips were so welcome! Sometimes I forget how nice a holiday is – because I just love to work. But winding down and going off the radar is so important. 

And before we jump into todays’ episode I want to share what I’m currently working on because I’m super excited: my first live sales event in The Netherlands! 

OMG I’m soooo excited about this. It was one of my goals to create a live experience about sales and it is finally happening! My Elevate your Sales event is happening on the 29th of September, and I’ve already gathered this amazing group of women. And there are still tickets available, so if you’re an entrepreneur listening right now and you know there’s room for you to improve the way you sell and serve your clients then go to lotjeeuser.com/elevate and grab your ticket! I really can’t stop talking about this event, because it’s going to be super amazing but let’s dive into today’s topic.

I was inspired to make this episode through multiple calls I had this week with different businesses about sales. And I thought like: omg I HAVE to talk about this in my podcast.

Today I want to discuss how to develop a sales mindset – not only for yourself but also for the teams you’re working with or you are in charge of as a manager.

So if you’re feeling your current team is lacking a sales mindset, that they’re not pro-active enough or you lose opportunities because your team is not picking them up: this episode is especially for you!

And everything that I share in this episode, you can apply for yourself as an entrepreneur as well. But for the sake of being clear, I will focus on sales or business dev teams in this episode. But if you listen closely, you will realize even as an entrepreneur, you can benefit from what I’m about to tell you.

So what is a sales mindset? 

When you ask chat gpt you get the following answer:

A sales mindset refers to a particular set of attitudes, beliefs, and perspectives that are conducive to success in the field of sales. It’s a mental framework that shapes how sales professionals approach their work, interact with customers, handle challenges, and pursue their goals. A sales mindset encompasses various qualities and principles that contribute to effective selling and building lasting customer relationships. Here are some key aspects of a sales mindset:

1. **Positive Attitude:** Salespeople with a positive mindset are optimistic, resilient, and focused on opportunities rather than obstacles. They believe in their ability to overcome challenges and see rejection as a stepping stone to success.

2. **Customer-Centric Focus:** A sales mindset emphasizes the importance of understanding and addressing customer needs. Successful salespeople genuinely care about helping customers solve their problems or meet their goals, rather than just pushing products or services.

3. **Empathy and Active Listening:** Effective salespeople are empathetic and skilled at active listening. They seek to understand the customer’s perspective, concerns, and preferences, allowing them to tailor their pitch to align with the customer’s needs.

4. **Continuous Learning:** Sales professionals with a growth mindset are committed to continuous learning and improvement. They stay updated on industry trends, sales techniques, and product knowledge to provide valuable insights to customers.

5. **Resilience:** Rejection and setbacks are common in sales. A sales mindset encourages resilience, helping salespeople bounce back from disappointments and remain motivated to pursue their goals.

6. **Adaptability:** The sales landscape is constantly evolving. An adaptable mindset enables salespeople to adjust their strategies, tactics, and communication styles to suit the changing preferences of customers and market conditions.

7. **Goal Orientation:** Having clear goals and targets is crucial in sales. A sales mindset drives individuals to set ambitious yet achievable goals and work diligently to meet or exceed them.

8. **Confidence:** Sales professionals need to exude confidence in their products or services. A sales mindset helps individuals build self-assurance and effectively communicate the value they offer.

9. **Problem-Solving:** Salespeople encounter objections and challenges regularly. With a sales mindset, they view these obstacles as opportunities to creatively find solutions and provide customers with what they need.

10. **Building Relationships:** Long-term success in sales often relies on building strong customer relationships. A sales mindset emphasizes the importance of cultivating trust and rapport with customers to foster repeat business and referrals.

11. **Ownership and Accountability:** Sales professionals with a sales mindset take ownership of their performance and results. They hold themselves accountable for their actions and strive for continuous improvement.

Overall, a sales mindset is a holistic approach to sales that combines personal qualities, communication skills, and a customer-centered perspective. It’s about adopting the right attitudes and beliefs that drive success in sales, leading to better interactions, increased customer satisfaction, and higher sales performance.

And if you ask me a sales mindset is a way of looking at yourself, at your business, at your customers, at your processes and wondering: what are opportunities lying here, that you can pick up? How can you keep on improving what you’re doing? How can you even better serve your clients? And take action in a way that is beneficial for you, for your customers, for your business, or for the impact you can make.

It’s also some kind of perspective – it’s a way of looking at growth, opportunities and business from an optimistic point of view. 

And what I’ve noticed from my own experience in the sales world, is that some people have that natural gift. To see opportunities for themselves or their business everywhere. 

And I have a great example of someone who has always had that natural gift of a sales mindset. And this might surprise you but…

I was watching the jeen-yuhs documentary on Netflix About Kanye West and he’s the perfect example of someone who has that sales mindset. I know many of you won’t be a fan of Kanye, since he’s gotten all out of control lately. 

But this documentary follows him from the start of his rapping career. He had a friend, Coodie, who followed him day in and day out and recorded everything with his canon video recorder. In this documentary all that material has been put together, which resulted in a really authentic documentary series.

And Kanye’s career didn’t start off instantly when he had just begun. 

I know we tend to think that all the superstars out there just were super stars from the beginning, they were born like superstars but everybody has to start from zero. Kanye included.

His big problem was when he had just started his career, was that nobody saw him as a rapper. They all saw him as this producer, who could make good beats. But Kanye wanted to be seen and acknowledged as a rapper. And it took him some time and effort to accomplish that. And he needed a deal with a record label to really pursue his career. So a few things that stood out for me here is that: he never waited for opportunities to come to him. He took advantage of situations. He went for example to a record label and started playing his music in that office. To let himself be heard. He entered the studio where Jay-Z was recording his album and saying like: hey this is what I’m feeling and he just started rapping in front of Jay-Z. And that is how he managed to rap on one of Jay-Z’s tracks just by putting himself out there. Everywhere where he came he made sure people knew who he was and what he did.

And with good results – Kanye has become a superstar. But it did not go smoothly for him at the start. For a very long time, he had to keep pushing, keep sharing his vision, keep showing up and showing people what he was capable of. And whenever he saw the chance to show his capabilities, he grabbed it with both hands.

You should watch the documentary, even if you’re not a big Kanye fan, it’s really inspiring what your sales mindset and self-belief can help you achieve when it comes to creating those opportunities for yourself.

Kanye did not have a lot of opportunities, he did not have that Bronx, criminal rapper background – which made so many rappers famous in the ’90. He was different. So he made sure he created those opportunities for himself.

So maybe you’re running a sales team or a business development team, where you have at least one of 2 people on your team who also are those opportunity spotters and have that sales mindset fully embraced. Those are your superstars. You love them. You can count on them.

However, you may have 8 other people who don’t own that mindset and are not creating the results you’d hoped them to create. And you want them so badly to perform better. To create better results. To act proactively. To see opportunities and grab them with both hands. But they just don’t seem to do that, no matter how you try to inspire them.

And you feel like you’re losing money through the so-called opportunity costs. And the truth is: you are. But what are you going to do about it?

You might feel that you need to get rid of people on your team who don’t have that sales mindset.

And that’s because most people think about skills as: you either have it or you don’t. But that’s totally a fixed mindset. That is not a growth mindset.

Maybe you feel the same way about the people on your team, and you believe just don’t have what it takes when it comes to sales. So you end up frustrated and you show them how it’s done but you’re getting ZERO results.

But here’s the good news: We’re not all born with the Kanye-skills. But we can learn. 

Everyone can develop a sales mindset. No matter who you are, what yo