Chapter 19 - Building Confidence

Selling a service requires instilling confidence in a prospect: they must be confident in your firm's ability and willingness to deliver on the promises you offer them. The author firmly believes, as many self-help authors have attested, that instilling confidence in others requires you to have confidence in yourself.

He stresses disdain for the "corporate shill" and "bubble-headed cheerleader" types who are constantly enthusiastic for no particular reason. You should seek to work for a firm that does something you believe to be genuinely worth doing, and does it as best it can. If you truly believe this, you will find it easier to convince other people it is so.

He goes on for a bit about various ways to pump yourself up: consider the vision expressed in a mission statement, count up the number of customers served, and the value of benefits they derive from using your products. If you understand the value you are offering and take as evidence the fact that people buy from you, you should develop a sense of purpose and enthusiasm.

Aside of bolstering your self-confidence, it's also important to learn as much as you can about your products, company, and industry simply because the amount of information available to your customers via the Internet is massive - and being caught flat-footed by a customer who knows more than you do is a blow to your confidence, not to mention their ability to place their confidence in you.

He spins the chapter down with a self-assessment. The questions he asks are "Do I believe in myself? Do I believe in my company? Do I believe in what I am selling?" If a salesman can answer "yes" to each of these, and explain the reasons that support his belief, he can proceed with confidence.