Reap the Benefits of Selling with an Abundance Mentality

It’s been an incredible year! I hope you feel that way, too.

Recently, I spent time with two particular clients who would agree with that sentiment.  These two companies could not be more different. One is a large global organization that I’m precluded from discussing publicly (but what I will offer is that I’m glad these brilliant, passionate people are on our side). The other client is a small, entrepreneurial SaaS (software-as-a-service) company with a strong offering and gifted and engaged salespeople and executives. I worked with both of these companies for the entirety of 2014, and while one may look nothing like the other, they have one wonderful thing in common:  They both had a phenomenal year developing new business!

Along with all the great things that accompany sales success, one benefit, in particular, was patently obvious in both organizations the past few months: These sales/business development teams were reaping major benefits by selling with an abundance mentality. 

For the past decade or so I’ve heard various pundits, speakers and executives preach about the importance of living and leading with an “abundance mentality.” They would contrast the abundance mentality with its ugly sidekick – a “scarcity mentality.” This year, two of my favorite professional resources, Alan Weiss and Michael Hyatt (both of whom have been influential in building my business – I’ve purchased content, attended workshops from each and even engaged Alan as a coach after the launch of my first book), spoke often about this concept, strongly exhorting their followers to operate from a perspective of abundance versus one of scarcity. But adding my own editorial perspective, I can say that many times this year I intentionally chose to operate and make decisions believing I was in a position of strength and abundance, and haven’t regretted it once.

So, as I trained, coached and observed both of these clients over the past few months, I not only took pleasure in the significant sales success they’ve experienced, but am thrilled to see how this success is positively affecting their approach to selling! They truly are now operating from a perspective of abundance and it’s increasing their effectiveness even more! It’s as if they are caught up in a positive cycle of abundance that is reproducing itself. 

Here are 5 specific benefits you can reap from selling with an abundance versus a scarcity mentality.

You can be…

1. More strategic and more selective when choosing business (target clients) to pursue. When deals are flowing and your pipeline is swollen, you’re in the envious position of being able to be picky about which business to attack.
2. More confident in your prospecting. It sure is easier approaching prospective clients when you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that your solution is delivering tremendous value to other similar customers. You benefit from the ability to see yourself as the expert and problem-solver and your potential customer as someone who likely could use your help. That’s a winning mentality for sure. It sure is fun (and effective) when you can approach a buyer believing that they’d be silly not to talk with you further because you have proof (case studies and testimonials) from your other client success stories.
3. More bold in your challenging and probing. When you’re seeing yourself and company as true experts and consultants in the space, and you know you don’t need a particular prospect’s business, you are much more willing to ask bold, provocative questions and much less concerned with being liked or offending someone. Frankly, we should always approach customers with that mindset; it’s just harder to do when you’re scared.
4. More strict in your qualifying and owning your sales process. When we’re really hungry, we are more likely to chase anything. And even when the opportunity isn’t that attractive or the prospect has created an unfair game, we choose to play anyway when operating from a scarcity mentality. But with an abundance mentality, we are much faster to tell the prospect that we don’t want to play the game under their disadvantageous rules, so we speak up, share our own rules of engagement and stick to our guns. Sounds a lot like the book Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play.(Thanks to Mahan Khalsa for one of my all-time favorite books on sales).
5. More willing to charge a premium price. Can’t forget this one, can we? So often it’s the salesperson who makes the deal about price — and then blames it on the customer. Friends, this takes us back to Econ 101. There is ZERO reason to discount the price, or to even let your mind or the customer go one step down that path when selling from a position of abundance. Supply and demand. Clearly, there are lots and lots of people receiving great value from what you sell. Just look at your results and your pipeline of future opportunities. Accept that fact and be confident charging your full price for the value you and your company are delivering.

My challenge to you as we wind down this year and plan to attack the next is to adopt an abundance mentality in your personal approach to selling. Is it easy? Well, if you’re coming off a record year and have a fat bank account it is. But even if that is not your situation, when you read all these benefits that accrue to those who sell with this mentality, doesn’t it make you want to sell with an abundance mindset anyway? I hope it does. Because those five characteristics of abundance sellers listed above are best practices. Be strategic when targeting, confident in your prospecting, bold in probing, true to your sales process and proud of your pricing. If you do these things well, soon you will be selling from a position of abundance!

Wishing you many blessings, the happiest of holidays, a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and the most prosperous and abundant year ahead!