Tools for overcoming resistance to selling

How to put your feelings down on paper

For many of us, the choice to sell is not really a choice at all. We must do it. We can either do it badly, or do it well – that’s the real choice we need to make.

This post is going to be a bit different than most you’ve read in this blog. In this post, I’m going to ask you to actually do something, beyond just reading. What I’m going to ask you to do is pour out all of your thoughts relating to how you feel about selling, or what happens when you sell.

So here goes: start up a blank document or grab a blank piece of paper. At the top I want you to write:

“When I sell I…”

Then, write all of the endings to that sentence that come to your mind. Keep writing until you’ve run out of page.

What this exercise helps you do, if you do it, is help you get all of your feelings of resistance to selling onto “paper”. It’s important that when you do this, you just keep writing. Don’t stop writing for a moment. That’s your resistance to selling resisting you.

So now go ahead and do that. Get the document up and write it all down. Here, I’ll go first:

“When I sell I feel lousy. When I sell I feel like I’m bothering people. When I sell I feel like I’m intruding on their personal choices and time. When I sell I feel like they could ask me a question I don’t know the answer to. When I sell I feel I might screw up and say something that I shouldn’t say. When I sell I feel like I might stumble over my words and not make sense. When I sell I feel I may run out of things to say. When I sell I feel that they might reject what I’m offering. When I sell I feel they might reject me. When I sell I feel that I won’t succeed. When I sell I feel I’ll just waste my time with gatekeepers…”

Like that. Now it’s your turn. Open up that document and write everything you feel when you’re selling – or what happens when you must sell. If you get stuck, repeat in your head “When I sell…” then think of the last ending until the next idea comes to you.

In my next post, I’ll take you to the next step in overcoming your resistance to selling.