While waiting in the 4-hour passport line up today, it brought me back to my days of Ticketmaster in the ’90s, it also reminded me of certain elements in sales.The 4-hour wait forced me to be patient and optimistic while realizing this is not on my timeline. I had to detach from the outcome, get comfortable, stand, sit, lean and only be able to control what was within my own reach.

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How often in sales, especially at this time of year are we trying to go for the Hail Mary or discount and push to get deals across the line? Where are our patience, our optimism? Who wins here? Nobody. Typically, the customer can implement in January, we are trying to close business and get our Q4 payout, when we push too hard they pull away.

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Operating on a mutually beneficial timeline shows them our first goal is to help them solve their problem and we are other-focused. Effective planning early in the sales process allows you to plan for a December close if it makes sense for both parties. Detach from the outcome and create “our” plan.Another learning today, the closer I got to the front of the line, I started second-guessing myself, did I fill out the application completely? did my guarantor sign in the right place? will the photographs be acceptable? Why when stakes are high do we second guess ourselves and dance with the idea of deviating from the process?

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The process was built to withstand emotion, knee-jerk situations, and hold us on the right path. Preventing uncertainty, leading with emotion or worst desperation. The predictable and repeatable process is what makes us successful and holds us accountable. Why abandon it when we need it the most.What about the voice in the back of our head, dropping mini doubt bombs, mine was hinting that I had left something incomplete, if this were the case, I would have lost the 4 hour wait time, I did have skin in the time, my time and my ability to travel with my family.I pulled out my paperwork for the 5th time and realized everything was as it should be, but why was my mind playing tricks on me?

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How many times in a competitive situation, when we don’t hear back from our client, or after we submit our proposal, we start second-guessing ourselves, wondering if we responded in a way that will position us as the best solution. Or the story we play to ourselves, we are not good enough, my prospect is way more experienced than me, a higher title, we flirt with imposter syndrome.

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At a certain point we must be ok with ourselves, our response, trust the process, our team members, and our judgement. At the end of the day if we did our best, left nothing on the table, worked the process then perhaps this wasn’t the deal for us.
We can’t try to squeeze a round peg in a square hole, be ok with our approach, reflect on the outcome after it has presented itself and what are the lessons learned from it. Remaining calm allows us to think and speak clearly and rationally.

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In summary, I remained calm, trusted my ability, myself, stuck to the process, quieted my mind but also those around me, who I could hear expressing negativity with the process, the wait and the government. I drowned everyone out and stayed the course. My mindset from the beginning was, this is not going to be enjoyable, but it will give me the outcome I need and for that, I am willing to put in the work. I was well aware of the expectations set forth therefore the journey wasn’t as bad as I expected.

In closing, I got the passports! My 10-minute interaction was so quick compared to my 4-hour wait, but the learnings that came from the wait time are what I am sharing with you today. On another note, after 2 and a half years, my family and I are finally boarding a plane and going to Ireland for Christmas, I am more than excited about this and it was well worth the 4-hour investment and of course the awareness.

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I wish you all a relaxing, peaceful, and restful holiday season with your family and friends and look forward to all the new things in stock for 2022!

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Season’s Greetings from all of us at K2 Perform

- Karen Kelly