Are Your Salespeople Living in the Comfort Zone?

Why are your salespeople living in the comfort zone?

Salespeople, at least at the very beginning, are very motivated and hard-working. Then why so often do salespeople start living in their comfort zone? There are several reasons for this.

Problem

• They sell enough and have created a residual income that coincides well with their lifestyle. 
• The salary is enough with selling a few accounts that give the salesperson an income stream that becomes comfortable therefore, the comfort zone seeps in. 

   Discussion

1. Comfort Zone 

Salespeople feel safe and in control.  They like things the ‘way they are.  Will do what they have been doing because they know what that is and don’t like change.

* Result – Your salesperson in this category will do what they know and because of that, you can not change goals, territory, commissions

rules, etc without a real strong pushback from them.

2. Fear Zone

This is the fear zone. … In the fear zone, you will probably lack self-confidence. The opinions of others may affect you. Worse yet, they may discourage you. Nevertheless, with your desire to move forward and reach the growth zone, you should just stop for a moment and think about what you are doing and why.

Salespeople in this zone will sell from a place of fear. They will not do things differently, new, or take any sort of risk.

* Result – This salesperson will go along with others and be fearful of taking any risk, large or small. Excuses will be rampant here to protect the fear of change. Trying something new will be difficult for this person as well.

3. Learning Zone

Beyond the Comfort Zone lies the Learning Zone. Here, your existing skills and abilities are stretched, allowing you to learn and develop new ones. Moving into the Learning Zone might feel intimidating at first. But it doesn’t have to be.

This salesperson will deal with challenges, maybe with some initial hesitation. This salesperson has the ability to take on challenges and incorporate them.

* Results – this salesperson will learn new skills, be open to coaching and take on challenges with an open mind. They are trainable and

coachable which is a necessity for growth.

4. Growth Zone

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck’s (2008) work on mindsets marked a paradigm shift in the field of positive psychology. Her research distinguished between two contrasting belief systems – the fixed versus growth mindsets.

With a fixed mindset, people believe they have set doses of each ability, with a corresponding ceiling on how much they can achieve. Failure reveals inadequacy, and criticism becomes a fatal blow to self-esteem.

The growth mindset means recognizing humans as malleable. From this stance, setbacks become opportunities for learning (Dweck, 1999) and our potential becomes unlimited.

Intentionally leaving the comfort zone goes hand-in-hand with developing a growth mindset. While the fixed mindset keeps us trapped by fear of failure, the growth mindset expands the possible. It inspires us to learn and take healthy risks, leading to positive outcomes across life domains.

A salesperson in the growth zone truly wants success and will do whatever it takes to get it. This is a motivated

salesperson and will work to their maximum ability to reach success.

* Result – This salesperson will attack goals and do whatever it takes to achieve them. There will be no excuses, just wants to know-how.

Lesson – For Sales Leadership

Becoming a Sales Leader as opposed to just a sales manager will take your coaching to reach the pinnacle. This person will be a superstar with the right coaching.

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