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Highlights

• [00:33] - How the fear of rejection affects salespeople.
• [02:58] - Why even the best sales leaders are afraid of failing.
• [04:17] - Do you fear success? Time to put an end to that.
• [07:30] - Identifying and overcoming your fear once and for all.
• [10:47] - Succeeding in your sales career by promoting yourself.
• [12:06] - Getting the support you need to move forward. 

In this episode of the Transformed Sales Podcast, I talk about fear and how it affects salespeople and sales leaders. Fear can destroy confidence, create doubt, and snatch the joy from life. It has many names, can be invisible, holds no prejudice, and has lots of allies that work in tandem to self-sabotage. The fear of selling and rejection among salespeople can occur in response to certain unforeseen situations developing, for instance, a high-profile client canceling. 

It can also occur in anticipation or expectation of future challenges, such as having to explain to the leadership that the biggest client is canceling, and the threat these, in turn, pose to the opportunity for a promotion or financial bonus. The fact is, fear affects both individual contributors and sales leaders in equal measure. But what if you identify it, call it out, and use it for positive gain? Stay tuned because that’s exactly what I’ll address in this value-packed 13-minute episode. I’ll mention the three different types of fear that affect salespeople and share how you can overcome them.

Quotes

“The worst thing you can do as a sales leader is follow the status quo” - Wesleyne Greer

“All types of fear hold you back as a sales leader” - Wesleyne Greer

“As a sales leader, when you operate with a fear mindset, that resonates down to your team” - Wesleyne Greer

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

• Wesleyne’s Website - https://transformedsales.com/
• Wesleyne on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesleynegreer/
• Wesleyne on Facebook - https://web.facebook.com/wesleynegreer
• Wesleyne on Twitter - https://twitter.com/wesleynegreer
• Email Her at wesleyne@transformedsales.com

Hello, and welcome to the transform sales

podcast today I have your guest Wesleyne. Yes, that's right. I

am doing a solo episode for you why? Because this is going to be

our ADF episode eight, zero. Can't believe how many episodes

we've done a podcast is definitely a labor of love. So

what are we going to be talking about today on the podcast, I'm

going to be talking about fear, something that we don't often

talk about something that isn't something that we as sales

leaders, as business owners, or even salespeople like to really

touch, because it's this weird thing that we often find

ourselves running away from. So we'll be talking about three

different types of fear. The first type of fear is one that

we're probably pretty common to understanding, if you will, that

is the fear of rejection. So as a salesperson, when we think

about rejection, we're thinking about, really, okay, if I asked

this person for this purchase order, what's gonna happen?

They're gonna say, no, if I asked him for another meeting,

if I asked them to meet their boss, whatever, I asked them,

they're gonna say no. So what do we do? We just don't do? Because

we're so scared of being rejected that our answer is I'm

just not going to do it. How does that manifest? How does

that develop into a leadership fear of failure? What happens

is, as a leader, we typically have these really high

performing people on our teams. And we see that they're doing

probably 60 70% of their job, right. But there are other areas

in their job, and maybe in their personality and the things that

they're doing from day to day, that they just aren't doing the

right way. And we're scared of them biting our head off, we're

scared of them saying, You don't know anything, you haven't been

doing this long enough. You're a leader now, and all of those

negativities that come to us. So because we want to be sort of

liked by our employees, we decide that we won't say

anything. And then when it comes time to stand up for ourselves

with our managers, we won't say anything, either, because we're

scared of being rejected. Like they gave me this position. They

said, Hey, John, Hey, Sally, hey, Wesleyne, I'm gonna promote

you. And since I'm giving you this opportunity to become a

sales leader, a vice president of sales, a chief sales officer,

then I shouldn't have any problems, right? So I'm scared.

So that is the first type of fear that we often often really

have that's holding us back the fear of rejection. Now the fear

of failure. This is a big one, too. Because as these strong

sales leaders, sales people that we are, we are always scared of

failing, we think that if we fail, then nobody will give us a

second chance. We think that if we hit miss our quota, one

quarter, one month, one year, then we have to run for the

hills, and look for a new position. Because we are scared

to fail as strong driving leaders and sales people we are

used to winning. So when the thought of failing, pops into

our brain, we get really mousy. And what do we do when we're

scared of failing? We do the opposite of what we should do.

We become more conservative, we don't try new things. And that

hinders us as leaders, because the worst thing you can do as a

leader is follow the status quo. Yes, I'm saying the worst thing

you can do as a leader is follow the status quo. Nobody wants a

leader that follows the status quo, because that's boring, and

you'll never grow that way. So because you're so scared of

failing, you don't even try. You don't even start you don't even

move. Now. This last phenomenon in failure is the fear of

success. But hold up Wessling, you just told me that I fear

rejection, I fear failure and now I fear success. How can I be

afraid of success? Hmm, that's a good one. Being afraid of

success. It really goes into it brings both concepts of fear of

rejection and the fear of failure together because the

fact that you are scared of being successful is the reason

why you won't raise your hand is the reason why you won't try

something completely outside of the box. It's why instead of

you're looking and you're saying hey, it's time for me to move In

my career, I'm just going to stay in my same industry, I'm

not going to look outside for any other industry, because what

happens if you're not successful? What is the

alternative? So many times we think about the growth that we

have to have in our career, we're always trying to get to

the next level and the next level and the next level, and we

get knocked down one time. And then we're like, Well, maybe

it's not meant for me to be a vice president of sales, maybe

it's not meant for me to work in this manufacturing industry,

maybe I should go back in I should work in the factory,

right? So we take all of those things, and it prevents us from

even being successful. So I want you to take a moment and think

about which of these three phenomenons Do you really think

you are struggling with the most? Is it the fear of

rejection, so really focusing on what other people think of you

their perception of what success looks like to them? That is what

the fear of rejection is all about? It's so focused on other

people's opinions of you that you don't even try? Is it the

fear of failing? Because at one time in your career, or one time

in your life, you have considered yourself failing at

something? And so you're like, Well, if I fail again, I'm gonna

get the same result. I don't want to fail again. So that fear

of failure that is internal, that is something in the past

that is causing you to bring that negativity into the future

and causing you to not try again? Or is it the fear of

success? Well, if I started making more money than all the

people in my circle, they'll think that I'm bougie. Or

they'll think that we can't hang out anymore. So I'm not even

going to try to go for that promotion. I'm not even gonna

try to do that. Because what happens if I am successful, all

types of fear hold you back as a leader, as a leader, when we

operate with that fear mindset, the mindset of scarcity, the

mindset of I'm afraid, that resonates down to our team. So

they see you as a leader, not raising your hand for the

promotion, or not accepting the praise and accolades from doing

something so well until your salespeople embody that. That is

what happens when you hold on to this fear. So how do I begin

releasing this fear? How do I go from holding on to one, two, or

all three of these types of failure and really start moving

through it, the first step is you must realize that you are

holding on to this, you must realize that as a human being,

it is okay to be afraid. If you see a snake slithering into your

office, or you see a cockroach, and you're just innately scared

of it. It is okay to be scared. Fear is a natural human emotion.

However, it is not okay to let that fear cripple you, you must

identify your fear. So some people are afraid of heights.

They say I'm afraid of heights. And so what do they do, they

just don't jump out of an airplane, or they don't go

anywhere high. But that's not attacking your fear head on.

Whatever you are afraid of, you must first identify it. So you

say it into the world. You write it down, you do whatever. And

this is for you. This is not for anyone else. But you. So you say

this is what I'm afraid of. This is what my biggest fear in my

career, and my personal life that is holding me back, write

it down. Once you have identified that fear, you must

now take a moment and say, Is this something that I can

conquer on my own? Or do I need someone to help me tease this

out that someone can be a spouse, that someone can be a

coach that someone can be a therapist, but be honest with

yourself? Because when we're in these modes of failure,

especially as leaders, we're in our head. And when I say we're

in our head, that's I'm just swirling around, and I'm telling

myself that this is wrong. And this is right, and we're not

talking to anyone else. We're not speaking to anyone, we're

just rolling these thoughts around in our head. So write it

down. Realize that you need support it is okay to say I need

some help. And it can be professional or it can be

someone in your family a loved one. That is absolutely okay.

And then finally, after you've discussed this fear with someone

you realize what it is you must now start taking small steps to

attack this fear head on.

What are you talking about? How do I attack fear head on? Isn't

this just like an abstract Concept know, if you have a fear

of success, let's say you are scared of being successful. So

that means what you should do is you should go to your boss and

say, Hey, boss, last week, the team and I did this great

initiative, I just wanted to let you know, how we work together,

how I came up with this idea, whatever it was the part that

you played in it, and wanted to share that with you. That is one

small step that you can take to really help you overcome that

fear of success. Because being afraid of success means that you

will not you will not self promote yourself. And remember,

self promotion is not a bad thing. self promotion is good.

We all have to promote ourselves, because nobody else

will, if you don't raise your hand and say, Hey, this is my

name, this is what I've done. I'm ready for the next step, or

the next accolade. Or it could even be I just want to be

recognized for a job well done, you must start raising your

hand. That's how you start attacking the fear of success

head on the fear of rejection, you just have to do it. Right?

You just have to really think about all of the areas in your

professional career that you fear rejection, is it I fear

being rejected by a person on my team, so I'm not going to

address a negative behavior with them. Then you have a

conversation, you have a one on one with them. And you say, Hey,

I've noticed that you're displaying some of these

behaviors, you're doing a lot of wonderful things. However, this

is something that I want us to work on together us a unit,

right? And if they say I don't want to work on that with you,

as the leader, you get to decide, is this somebody that I

still want on my team? That's what you have to do? Proclaim

it? What is the thing that is holding you back? What kind of

fear is holding you back? Talk about it, get your support

system, no one exists as an island, and then three, attack

it head on. So that guys was my short, only 15 minutes. I know

you're old, you still longer episodes when I'm interviewing

people. But I really wanted to chat with you about the fear,

fear that is holding us back in our leadership fear that is

holding us back as salespeople as business owners and

entrepreneurs to really unlock your growth to unlock the next

level in your career in your business and anything that

you're doing. You must overcome this fear in all the ways that

is holding you back. Thank you so much for joining me today. I

hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you like hearing Wesleyne

by herself, just go off on a topic send me an email, shoot us

a note podcast at transform sales.com We love to hear from

you guys. So if you liked this format, I'll do more solo

episodes. Until next time in all that you do transform your sales