How Your Thoughts Impact Your Sales

Will having an optimistic outlook improve your sales results?  The science-based answer is yes.  Here’s why.

University of Pennsylvania professor Martin Seligman conducted some interesting research, which was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, on how optimism and pessimism impacts the performance of sales people. 

Seligman gave sales people a psychological assessment that measured their level of optimism.  Then he evaluated those sales people’s performance over a two year period.  The findings were that those sales people who scored high on optimism sold 37% more than their more pessimistic counterparts.  What’s more, the sales people who tested in the top tier in optimism had sales production that was 88% higher than those who had scored high in pessimism. 

That’s not all.  Seligman’s research also revealed that those sales people who had pessimistic mindsets were also 300% more likely to quit the profession of selling than those who were optimistic.

So what about you?  Are your thoughts optimistic or pessimistic?  The good news is that anyone can become more optimistic because your thoughts are just that… YOUR thoughts!  All you must do is begin to monitor them and when negative ideas creep into your mind, don’t dwell on them.  Instead, refocus your mind on more encouraging thoughts.  When you begin to train your brain to think more positively you will notice that your motivation and ability to think creatively will improve and so will your sales results.