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The Sales Stoic

April 10th - Learn from challenges

6 min

Actionable tips:

  • When something goes wrong, take a moment to step back and ask, “What can I learn from this?” This shift in judgement can transform setbacks into growth opportunities.
  • Instead of reacting immediately to a challenging situation, pause and consider your response. This moment of reflection can help you respond in a way that aligns with your goals and values.

“It’s not what happens that stresses people, but how they interpret those things.” - Epictetus

When faced with challenges – be it tough clients, lost deals, or fierce competition – take a moment to pause and reconsider your response. It’s important to remember that we have the power to choose our reactions.

Instead of seeing setbacks as failures, view them as learning opportunities.

Like the hero in a film, each challenge we must overcome is a step towards growth.

Remember, the events we face don’t upset us; it’s how we interpret them that does.

Embrace this mindset, focus on what you can control, and navigate each situation with resilience.

Remember you will die.

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Follow Jack & Zac: Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-frimston-5010177b/ Zac: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zac-thompson-33a9a39b/

Connect with We Have a Meeting: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/we-have-a-meeting/ Website: https://www.wehaveameeting.com/

Disclaimer:

The Sales Stoic draws inspiration from the profound wisdom of Stoicism as presented in Ryan Holiday's "The Daily Stoic." As avid readers & fans, we deeply respect the work of Ryan Holiday, and acknowledge the significant impact of Stoic philosophy on our own approach to sales and life.

While The Sales Stoic applies the core principles of Stoicism to the unique challenges and opportunities faced by salespeople, it is an original work with its own distinct voice and focus. We aim to build upon the timeless wisdom of Stoicism to empower sales professionals with practical guidance and actionable insights for success in their careers and personal lives.

  • Jack Frimston

    Jack Frimston

    Co-Founder at We Have a Meeting

  • Zac Thompson

    Zac Thompson

    Co-Founder at We Have a Meeting

Rethink your reactions. Okay, do it again. Much, much better. It's the 10th of April and it's time to rethink your reactions. Okay? I'm ready. And I've got something from the Enchiridion. It's a short one so I don't want you to look at me funny and go, where's the rest? Give me a bit more. Buckle up. Okay. It isn't events themselves that disturb people. Ready? But only their judgments about them.

Wow. You know what? I think I've got that on a wall somewhere. Where? I couldn't tell you possibly. Okay. You couldn't tell me possibly or you couldn't tell me possibly? Obviously. You couldn't possibly tell me? Never mind. Right. Thank you. So there's a few different ways that we can tell you. We've talked about mindset quite a lot in the last few episodes. So I think we take this in maybe a bit of a different direction. So I think if you're a salesperson, you've sat down with a prospect, a decision maker, perhaps CEO, someone.

sales leaders, someone who's got a team behind them and they're telling you a story and that's exactly what it is a story of the events that go on in the business, what brought them to the call. But often it's like all of us, it's an imagined story. There's elements of the story that have been put in there by the chimp in the brain. It's been imagined. And one of the questions I always ask people, you know, they're coming up with maybe, maybe it's working with, we have a meeting and they want more meetings in the diary.

And they'll tell us about all the problems. Okay. And when you went and asked your sales team how they would want to fix the problem, what did they say? I've never done that. Sorry. What do you mean? I've never done that. Oh, but you were just saying they're really struggling to get more meetings in the diary and they're, you know, they're running out of ways to do that. No, that's, just the way it feels. I'm really struggling. So what do you mean? It's just the way. And then suddenly you've, you've, got this idea that's gradually being kind of challenged and, and I'm. Cause you can't run in there and just start.

challenging them and being like, okay, so it feels like you've got to get them to come to the conclusion. Cause there's, there's three sides, isn't there? Your side of the story, my side of the story and the truth and the truth, the actual fact. And we're a big fan of situational hypothetical questions. And I say to the team, like, if you want somebody to, if you want better answers, ask better questions and put somebody in that situation. like, could be, okay, if you had to pick

one thing about your current agency that you'd improve, what would that look like? So I put you in that situation rather than going, what would you change about your current agency? it like, there's nothing. If I ask you a question where I'm saying, you've got a gun to your head, you have to pick, and then it's a case of, let's rewind, why? But so many people come to court or they'll kind of spout their version of the truth. But we've got a phrase in the biz world of monkeys and assholes. Wow. So you do biz and tell. I do biz and tell.

You know monkeys and assholes? me about it. So it's a real interesting one, but a lot of the time there are when, there's problems within the business, comes from the top. Doesn't it? A fish rots from the head down as we say, but monkeys and assholes is when a CEO or a boss will look down at the team, they see smiling faces, but actually everybody else in the team, when they look up, they see assholes from the monkeys, which is quite nice from a visual. don't know you're into animations from here.

Um, but it's, it's very, I think the question that you said, if when you went to your team and asked them, I don't think that question could fail because it's two parts. They said this and we can unpack it or I didn't and we can unpack why they didn't. I'll give you one more. Please. So the other one is people come to us with that. I need more meetings or more business problem, right? How many clients you reckon you've got that really love you that really, really love you. Don't tell me how many clients altogether, but that really love you.

I know about 20. Okay. And when you went and asked those 20, look, you really love us. We're trying to get some more clients and who else could you introduce us to that we might be able to help? What did they say? Oh, I've never done that. Yeah. Wow. Okay. And it just makes you think, are you thinking about the problem in the right way? And I don't mind if people through having a conversation with us go, actually, there's probably a few free things I can do here. Cause nine times out of 10, they either tell someone about us because there was an ethical understanding there.

or they exhaust the free things, close some deals and they come back and say, right, I feel good that you're not just trying to do a money grab. Yeah. But we're always looking for that motivation on a sales call. And for me, if you haven't done the free, simple, easy stuff, why would you be motivated to do anything? Before you go and buy a 10 grand peloton. Did you mean that because you just said before you go and buy? Yeah, I know, but I meant before you go and buy because

A Peloton isn't a pie. But hold on a second. Did I just have steak and kidney love coming out of my ears? Cause you just said, you want a pie? Remember your pie? before you go and buy a 10 grand Peloton pie, maybe buy a 30 pound gym membership. Do you know what mean? It's the level of the motivation there. Have you tried going for a walk? So before you go and use an expensive agency product solution, have you tried the free, easy, simple stuff? And as a salesperson,

They're the questions you want to be asking. Beautiful. I've been Jack Frimston. I've been Zack Thompson. Remember you will die. Remember you'll pie.

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