Here’s the greatest paradox in all of sales: 

The more you focus on hitting your own goals, the less likely you are to hit them. 

Because customers will sense your underlying motive and not want to work with you. 

They will feel like you’re out for yourself, rather than having their best interest at heart. 

They will smell your commission breath a mile away and get repulsed. 

Here’s why this is easier said than done…. 

We all know sales is a performance sport, and if you don’t hit our goals we risk losing our jobs. 

Anybody who’s been in sales a while also knows that pressure can come from your boss or company to close deals quickly, even if the client might not be ready to move forward. 

There are quarterly goals to hit, end of month promos, transactional playbooks to execute such as “create and close,” and much more.

This can feel like pressure to the client, hurt the relationship, or jeopardize the deal. 

So how is it possible to work in sales and not stress so much about hitting our own goals?

It’s simple, but not easy. 

Instead of worrying about hitting your own goals, shift your focus to helping your clients hit their goals. 

And here’s the best part about this:

The more we can help our clients hit their goals, the more likely we are to hit our own goals.

Because they will continue to do more and more business with you, and will refer you to their peers and colleagues. 

And serve as a great testimonial for your company. 

It’s sales karma at its finest. 

Help others get what they want, and you will always get what you want. 

It’s also a lot more fulfilling and sustainable to sell with this approach. 

Last week I was interviewed by a former client of mine Bill Russell, who I worked with when he was the CIO of St Joseph Health overseeing 18 hospitals and 25,000 employees. 

During our discussion, Bill shared his perspective on how it feels to work with sellers who have commission breath, and why he looks for long term partners instead of vendors. 

I also share how to make the shift from an inward-focused seller to an outward-focused seller, and why playing the long-game leads to exponentially better results. 

Here’s a short clip from the interview: https://youtu.be/bRZ9i0r03vE

You can find the full interview here, produced byThis Week Health.