fake it till you make it?

I got oodles and oodles of responses to my question:

Fake it until you make it: do you agree?

The topic generated a large amount of email, as well as much buzz on linkedin. I have chosen some of the thoughtful responses received via email and put them together in this blog post for your reading pleasure. Make sure to comment and leave your thoughts!

and here we go…..

Faking it is to give you the internal confidence that you can do what you’ve set out to do. Faking it with a customer is lying and is the fastest way to destroy your confidence

Mark Hunter

www.TheSalesHunter.com

Fake It Till You Make It: I can’t say whether it’s true or false – but I will say it works and most people use the process. It is a process. Its part hope, self fulfilling prophesy, confidence builder. It’s what keeps pushing me to get past rejection and other obstacles. I believe some may take it to the max and be down right deceitful about it – and those are the ones that don’t make it (what goes around comes around). When I first started my business in 2000, I faked it a little, which I’d like to define as “embellishing” – how many previous clients I had – I counted the work I had done for a previous employer as client work. Not a lie about the actual work I had done – just a redefining of the work relationship. In correspondence or marketing material I might use the term “we”, even though I’m a one person company – but I included my husband and son who supported me and colleagues that I bounced ideas off of and sometimes helped me do some of the work. But it didn’t hurt the client or my family or friends – and it did give me hope, confidence and led to the success of my business.

Jude Williams

www.oceansofopportunities.com

I have quite a bit of experience with “faking it” and I think that it truly is a matter of showing confidence, but there is a level of truly “faking it”. Part of this is that when one is new to any industry, they must show confidence whether they feel it or not. I was an interior designer for four years, and despite having a degree, I felt absolutely clueless for most of those four years! Interior design is a career with endless educational opportunities and new information around every corner. I cannot tell you how many times contractors or even clients would talk over my head and I would smile and nod, note what they were saying, then go look it up or speak with a more educated staff member. To constantly look confused in meetings would shatter the client’s trust in me, and I needed them to trust me so that I could do a good job for them and give them confidence that I would not let them down.

I have since started my own business as a Wedding Planner. I am just about to start my eighth month of business. I have no formal training as a planner, and quite honestly had only planned my own wedding and assisted with the planning of friends’ weddings. At this point in business, I have been 100% successful.

I have never said to a client “I don’t know what I am doing”. I am honest. I tell them that I am new to the industry, but that I have the education needed to do a good job and give them a beautiful wedding. I AM learning as I go, but I imagine that I will continue to learn after 30 years in this career! The important thing is that I _am_ confident that I will do a good job and that I will give my clients 100%. So, I am faking a little bit of the confidence because I have fears with each wedding. My mouth goes dry when I stand up to officiate a wedding (something I also do in my business). I feel panicked when things aren’t going right and when the couple does not do their part in getting me the information I need in time. I never, ever let them know about these nerves or this panic, however!

Rachel Waldron
www.LetsKlink.com

Making it or Faking it — some thoughts:

Confidence is infectious. Any good public speaker will tell you that as long as you’re passionate about your subject matter, your audience will tend to respond positively. There may be a little “acting”, but acting is not faking. It’s merely an effective delivery mechanism for the message. To me lying is primarily when you knowingly deliver a false message. That’s faking it.

Conversely, believing in yourself and emanating confidence sometimes “makes” it actually happen.

Nat Wasserstein
www.recapitalization-partners.com

This is a self improvement strategy that goes back to the psychologist William James. Faking it is basically living a positive visualization of where you want to be. In life we all need to fake it sometimes because we obviously don’t know everything about this life on earth. Let me know if you would like anything else. My books discuss this strategy throughout.

Rick Singer
DreamRiver Press
www.RickSinger.ky

This _is_ my mantra and I believe it should be for ANYONE in the service industry. Having spent my entire career in the service industry, I have walked-the-walk.

Clients don’t care that you are having a bad day or have sore feet or that your kid is sick or that your last client was an [expletive deleted].

Put a smile on that face and emit nothing but “sunshine” out of every orifice and treat EVERY client like you are there only for them.

If you can’t do that, don’t get into the service industry because you will never make enough money.

Fake it till ya make it…………and you will.

Becky Sturm

CEO/Founder of StormSister Spatique

www.stormsister.biz

That phrase is best applied in the following context(s):

If one were to answer a client or prospect’s question by first thinking, “what would the best in the industry respond to this opportunity?” and then using that as a guide before answering. Or, by referring to one’s mailing address as “world headquarters” (though it may be a spare bedroom). Similarly, having a website with an email address that is, sales@your domain.com or info@yourdomain.com in addition to the direct email address with your name within it. All of those approaches are legitimate, appropriate, and “fair game.”
When the phrase is believed to give license to do the following, it is poor business, unscrupulous, and outside the boundaries of acceptability -
1. Claiming expertise in an area one is unfamiliar

2. Listing testimonials that were never provided by the client/including clients in a roster that never conducted business with you

3. Outright lying (examples, “Sure, I have wired a house before, I have repaired foreign vehicles previously, See that home over there, I put the roof on it just last month”).

The faking aspect of the phrase should only refer to a calming of one’s nerves or a building of confidence, not in the engagement of something duplicitous.

David Zahn
www.zahnconsulting.com

I am a firm believer in “Fake it until you make it” when it comes to confidence; I think it’s also appropriate when it comes to experience that you are truly in the midst of acquiring, and very dangerous if you’re talking about expertise in a highly specialized area. Its one thing to say honestly, “I can do this” and quite another to materially misrepresent “I’ve done this” if you haven’t done exactly that. If you are willing to work hard, do whatever needs to do be done, prepare extensively, and really think about what you’re doing and why, I think “fake it until you make it” is a pretty good motto.

As an attorney, there are specific areas of the law that I have experience in and others that I have no experience in. There are also cases where, even though I’ve not done exactly this, I’ve handled similar cases in the past, and the experience that I’ve gleaned from those cases will be useful in a new or slightly different area. The bottom line for me professionally has always been to know myself and my abilities and be honest (albeit enthusiastic) with my clients. Very few cases are “textbook cases,” and there are benefits to hiring a creative problem solver who knows how to think outside the box and to ask why or even why not. Sometimes believing you already know all the answers prevents you from finding a better way in any specific situation. Faking it with awareness often makes for truly brilliant discoveries. Faking it with deceit will bring you nothing but trouble.

Laurie A. Gray, JD
Socratic Parenting, LLC
www.SocraticParenting.com

Fake it till you make it is about how our brains, beliefs and actions either move us forward to greater success or hold us back in poverty and unproductive actions.

Simple formula, Actions affect belief + Beliefs direct or thinking + Thinking causes our actions = outcomes

By acting in a given way (being confident and taking confident actions) one soon finds themselves with the beliefs needed to be confident and therefore has become confident. This is true, even if they were terrified when they first started! They “faked” the confidence at first until it became real though their change in beliefs.

Harlan Goerger
www.AskHG.com

Fake it until you make it- TRUE!: From a small business start-up standpoint, “fake it ’til you make it” was my mantra for the six months in between starting my business and actually having tangible product. As a start-up florist, I relied on my own confidence, sketches, and the small amount of prior work’s photos I had to “sell” my services to potential clients. This also included creating several “fake” pieces to showcase my talents- which of course, I eliminated from my portfolio once I had photos of actual client events to showcase. There is, however, a distinct difference between confidently “faking it” and outright lying- for example, I never told any prospective clients that my first portfolio shots were past orders. In fact, I was up front with them in stating that they were sample pieces I had made, and that I would be looking to showcase their event photos to future clients.

Becky Ruby
owner/designer
www.lillylaneflowers.com

Faking it till you make it is a great mindset for people getting started, because it helps people take on the beingness of already having accomplished that which they set out to. It is not lying or deceiving other, it is more about making decisions from a place of certainty and confidence. You tell people the truth if they ask and don’t lie; you just take on a new mindset.

Louis Lautman
www.youngentrepreneursociety.com

The faking it until you make it theory is far from deception, although I think this in turn hurts small businesses.

Small businesses typically fake the EXACT things that customers hate about the large business model – automated directories that leave the customer scrambled to just speak to someone, hard to navigate/unorganized websites made just to appear larger, and removing their identity from the public’s eye which disassociates the owners (which essentially are a big part of the brand) from the product the customers love so dearly.

I feel that customers LOVE knowing exactly what the soul, beliefs, and face are behind the product that is now so much a part of their lives and most “fake until you make it” focused businesses lose that in the pursuit of becoming a “big profit, no-faced business”. Although I am not against profit, I am against making your business appear as if that is the only motive and the “fake it to you make it theory” oft times encourages this.

The “fake it until you make it” theme is not necessary in order for businesses to build a brand or an image. All you need is to consistently focus on exactly what brought your initial customer (or two) to the company in the first place. Just remember – why did that customer spend their hard earned dollars on you of all companies and stick with that as the brand, because that image has already been put out there and quite frankly it has worked. You’ve essentially done exactly what you are trying to fake – getting a customer (being a business). Just repeat your brand formula and you will get more.

Ashli Norton
SimpleLeap Software
www.simpleleap.com

As with any muscle, whatever goal you’re trying to reach has to first be exorcised in your mind. And, that workout has to include seeing yourself actually doing it successfully. Faking it isn’t the best word, it’s really visualizing yourself already owning it as a skill set so you can take it in, try it on and see what it feels like to have actually done it! Think of it as catching up with yourself.

Gayl Murphy Productions, Inc.
www.InterviewTactics.com

Fake it until you make it is a frequent piece of advice given to freelance writers, especially those first starting off. It’s a piece of advice that has served me well as I’ve laid the groundwork for my own freelancing opportunities. What it means, from my perspective, is focusing on what you do have to offer rather than what you don’t. It’s learning how to present yourself from a marketing standpoint – you emphasize what you have to offer and neglect to mention what you do not know or any lack of experience.

You talk about your knowledge, explaining and perhaps even teaching your listener to understand the key services / techniques you will be able to use to their benefit, without citing past work or offering up your own examples. Or, you show examples made specifically for that purpose, but that were not done for an actual client. It’s not about lying. It’s not about pretending to be something your not. It’s about making promises about what you can deliver and then delivering them.

Melissa Breau
www.melissabreau.com

This adage is more about your own mindset as a small business owner than anything else. It’s about thinking like a big business owner, like an established business person until you get to the point where you want to be. It is very much not about not telling the truth or not being authentic. You have to be authentic and real in your business with your clients and prospects if you’re going to get anyway in the long term – especially in today’s market place where people are more skeptical than ever and it’s so easy to do your homework (online) and find out about people. Keep it real – but act as if – it’s all about mindset!

Diane Conklin
www.linkedin.com/in/dianeconklin

I used to believe that it was OK to fake it, but as I get older, wiser and more experienced as a consultant, I no longer believe that. There are too many solid citizens who have “made it” already, and they can expose the “fakers” very quickly and easily. And when you live by your reputation, the last thing you need is to be exposed as a faker.

As a marketing consultant, I find that I get more clients in my camp by shooting straight with them and letting them know what I do well and what I don’t do so well. When possible I even offer to find the best person to do what I don’t do and work with that person to make sure the client’s needs are met. And sometime I offer to learn what I need to learn at no cost to the client, and invite them to come on the journey with me so we are both smarter in the end.

You know what? It works better than “faking it.”

Michael A Goodman
Dialogue Marketing Group
www.dialoguemarketinggroup.com

Fake it till you make it is totally fake.

I wrote about the variation, “act as if” at http://sashen.com/blog/15/act-as-if-as-if/ , and there’s a comic called Bob Tzu (www.duhism.com) who has a great line: Fake it till you’re fake making it.

There are a number of reasons why this aphorism is useless:

1) It assumes that there’s a reliable way to create some specific outcome… there’s not, especially, not by “faking it”. We have no idea how many people have faked it until they didn’t make it (or went broke trying).

2) It assumes that what you’re doing when you fake it is actually what you would be doing if you were making it, or on the right track… its not.

3) If you’re faking it, you’ll be putting yourself in an untenable situation… for example, if “making it” = driving an expensive car, so you go lease an expensive car, you’ve overextended… and perhaps what helped others “make it” was being frugal until they could actually AFFORD the expensive car.

4) It assumes that the other people that have made it all do, or have done, the same thing (the thing that you’ll be faking) to get there… they haven’t.

5) LYING… aka “faking it” is hard work. It’s stressful. It takes continuous, repeated effort. Unless were pathological, when we lie, we tend to “leak”… it’s not easy to keep the lie going. So, when you have your “new car” and you’re faking being the kind of person who can afford that car, you’ll probably fess up to more than one person “Well, I can’t really afford it…” (At the very least, you’ll be saying that in your own mind). In other words, you can’t REALLY fake it, anyway.

Steven Sashen
www.sashen.com

You can’t “fake it till you make it.” People have instant and constant access to information. They can smell a fraud from a mile away. If they suspect you to be a fraud, they’ll Google you to confirm their suspicion. Use the strengths you have, capitalize on your existing qualities, and be willing to admit your shortcomings. Being genuine achieves more than you ever could by “faking it:” It demonstrates character.

Russ Seagle, MBA
Seagle Management Consulting
www.seagleconsulting.com

I have a great take on this. I work independently with Major League Baseball players in the off season to improve their swing mechanics. Their endorsements keep my business running.

There is an element of both faking it and being real that needs to be balanced in my opinion.

Jaime Cevallos
www.TheSwingMechanic.com

I don’t see “faking it” as lying or deception. I feel it is necessary to lend your business credibility. I was always afraid that if retailers knew that the manufacturer (me) worked out of a 10×12 space across from the playroom that her 5 and 7 year old daughters were playing chutes and ladders in, that if might affect my business. It’s all about adding a sense of professionalism to your business even if at times, you have NONE!

I have made deals worth upwards of $20,000 in my pajamas with children bribed with Hannah Montana TV time and sugar out the wahazooo. If that’s faking it, then I’m the biggest faker there is. Until my clients and vendors understand I am no less capable of handling my business just because I’m not dressed in Chanel suits behind a big mahogany desk on the 10th floor of an office building, then fake it I will!

Leslie Haywood
Charmed Life Products LLC
www.grillcharms.com

* Yes, I think it’s partly because it rhymes.

* I often advise my clients to act “as if” in order to make changes in their lives. I am very honest though and I don’t condone lying. The acting “as if” is an imagining tool that I have used in my personal life successfully. I will make decisions thinking, “OK if I was that person (whatever it is) what decision would I make. In my opinion, faking it till you make it is a version of envisioning.

Diana Fletcher
Diana Fletcher Life Coaching
www.dianafletcher.com

Faking it generally refers to a person’s attitude. If you are feeling insecure or inadequate, you project an attitude of self confidence. This is not lying but getting your own head screwed on straight. As a public speaker, you could be struck with stage fright as is Barbara Streisand still to this day. I don’t see faking your capabilities to deliver an order when the order clearly overwhelms your system. Then you explain what you can do to satisfy the order for example such as in multiple shipments rather than one large shipment.

John Wilder
Marriage, relationship coach

1. The difference between lying and faking is that lying is deliberately deceptive, and not based on reality. Faking is based on reality and part of the action steps that turn a vision/dream into a reality.

2. The brain, amazingly, cannot tell the difference between imagination and reality. Research supports that the area of the brain (the parietal lobe) that controls motor activity is actually activated by simply imagining activity. I.E, you focus on how you want to drive a golf ball or hit a homerun, and the brain actually thinks you are doing it!

3. The implications of this are tremendous, lending limitless credence to “You get whatever you focus on.” It will turn into reality some goals take longer than others, of course, but “faking it” can definitely allow you to make it.

Dr. Nancy Irwin
www.drnancyirwin.com

I think the saying; “Fake it until you make it” is true in the sense that it helps a person overcome internal restrictions or self-imposed limitations. If an individual has perpetually had others denigrate their abilities, such as a spouse, parents, siblings, etc, then that person may be hesitant to utilize a skill that is quite marketable.

If they “pretend” they are already successful in using that skill and act as though they have a history of success using their talent, they will be less likely to exhibit self-defeating behaviors such as procrastination, leaving a task incomplete, etc. if they are asked to use their skill in a work situation.

“Faking it” in order to fool other people is counterproductive and generally ends up not only with the person failing but also leaving the impression that the person “faking it” is either an inveterate liar or totally delusional. “Faking it” to fool yourself can be the launch pad to success in that it helps build confidence and enables an individual to overcome self-limiting thoughts and behaviors.

Jean Fritz
KittyVista LLC

Issamar,

Obviously you knew someone who attended the University of Wisconsin seminar of mine in April where I talked about “15 Things that You Must Know Before You Graduate that Your Professors, Teachers and Parents Forgot to Tell You!” In the contents of this seminar one of my topics is “Fake it until you Make it!”

And, NO I don’t see anything wrong with telling college students that you simply will need to fake it before you really make it in this world who hasn’t already done that anyways! Not in the negative sense, but before a Teacher has ever taught their own class and the first day of teaching ones own class , you need to come across as someone that can handle this without much difficulty and with all of the confidence in the world! Likewise, When I first started my own Building company back in 1992 I had never really built a house from the ground up before (even though I had been working for another building company for several years) I simply had to come across to a potential customer that you are capable of doing all the work involved in the process and where you lack any expertise, at least you know the competent people that can handle that specific part of the building process!

Paul S. Gilbertson
R.E.A.C.H. a Child (Reading Enjoyment Affects Childhood Happiness!)
www.REACHaChild.org

I think “faking it” really means keeping yourself out there, keeping yourself in the game until it all gels — keeping that goal in sight and acting like you’re there even when you’re still on the journey.

My website/blog has a bit of this philosophy in it. It’s called “Give Me 10! The 10-minute solution to find balance and reach your goals”. The gist of it is that we may not have hours or days to dedicate to reaching a goal but if we spend just 10 minutes a day on it, we’re advancing the ball — we’re in the game.

Laura Saade
www.giveme10.info

I think it “may” be a good way to motivate oneself yet, as in many areas, there is a fine line. Often, we tend to believe our own press until it’s too late. We lie to ourselves thinking we are who we’re trying to pass ourselves off as successful and if we believe it and don’t have money coming in, it may be too late before we realize we NEED to get a job!!! Just continuing to think that we’re o.k. when we’re not may lead to disaster.

I attend quite a few networking meetings and ask how someone is doing and they’ll tell me how VERY busy they are and I ask “Busy being busy or busy making money”. They’ll usually pause and admit ~ busy being busy. They’re thinking being busy is going to eventually make them money.

If one can stay grounded, and realize that what they’re doing isn’t “making it” and either change their course, get a mentor or mastermind group or find out what it is they need to do, then, I feel “acting as if” and how we want to be, can be a good way to get where we want to be yet, as I said, there is a fine line.

Revvell
www.BodaciousLiving.com

Fake it ’til you make it: That was my motto when I started my personal chef business 11 years ago. Faking wasn’t about lying. It was about hiding my lack of confidence or inner voice that told me “I couldn’t do this.” It turned my business around. Before “Faking It” I would subconsciously give out vibes that my client wouldn’t hire me again for another service. When I realized I was undermining myself – I faked self confidence and acted like the new client relationship would be a long one. It really works and I tell that to all new entrepreneurs.

Lisa Brisch
Certified Personal Chef
www.orangepomegranate.com

I have heard this term in the network marketing industry only. It has been promoted as a way to show confidence in one’s self while building a business. It’s an erroneous way to act and here’s why. It does a great disservice to someone if you either lie, misrepresent or allude that you are successful beyond reality. What are we faking? I believe its success.

You can’t have success until you earn success. While we have small successes on our way to financial success, they are not the same. I think what ought to be taught is to let people know that you have just gotten started in a business and you are working towards your goals.

If someone’s been at it a while and they aren’t experiencing the success they wanted and someone asks, “How’s your business going?” an honest answer would be, “Well, I am working towards my goals and have had some success along the way. The truth is I am enjoying the process and am moving forward.” Fake is really another term for falseness. I believe that we should strive to be truthful in our personal and business lives and when success does come, it’s much sweeter.

Lisa Kneller
www.lisakneller.com

Interesting question. I’d like to come at it from a cultural perspective.

Like many of my fellow immigrants (citizen and been here 35 years), I was always attracted to America because we saw this whole vast nation as a state of mind… The one place in the world where you have the right to become whatever you want to be, the right to leave the past behind and to re-invent yourself; and to do so as often as you have the need or desire, the motivation and the energy.

The “fake it until you make it” phrase has probably been interpreted every which way from sundown and is, I believe, a more modern and ironic/cynical manifestation of the central message from Power of Positive Thinking (Norman Vincent Peale?) and Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill?). Their message being that to make your dreams reality, to, “become today what you dream of being tomorrow” it helped to use positive imagery and behavioral modification: putting yourself wholeheartedly into your dream for a better tomorrow: behaving today as you will when you have achieved that dream.

Personally I read Peale and Hill any number of times. I lived, and still live by many of their 70 year-old principles. Modeling my everyday behavior on what I saw to be the behaviors of those I would emulate, what I see to be a righteous way of living…or one might say more cynically, the sedulous ape approach to learning .

When you recognize the right behaviors for bringing success and your dreams to life, and you integrate them into your every waking moment, into your very being… this approach really does work. Worked for me, and works for the millions of people who apply behavioral programming approaches to reaching their more serious goals in life.

On what do I base this? Peale and Hill are still in print and still valid. And my body of work, the “Knock em Dead” job search and career management books, which are in print throughout the world, have as one of their consistent threads, the adoption of specific learnable behaviors that lead to career success. If you accept, “Fake it until you can make it” at its face value, it leads to a lot of embarrassing posturing. But behind the trite phrase is a wealth of empowerment.

Martin Yate
www.knockemdead.com

I have interpreted “fake it till you make it” as a guideline for all my business interactions. To me, it means to maintain a professional attitude, even though I am just a blue collar worker. It means maintain a professional appearance; in your presence online, in the literature and other tools you use to advertise yourself, and in correspondence with businesses and customers. For instance, separate your points of contact into departments, even though they may all lead to the same phone line or email box. If you want to set an appointment and have no office, explain that you’ll be in the area and can meet at a coffee shop. Get a P.O. Box. It does one’s professional image no justice to list their business at their personal address.

Don’t use free software tools for anything if they’re branded by their maker. You are out to promote yourself, not your lacking budget. It doesn’t hurt to say that you have assigned the task at hand to an “employee” and have set the deadline for such and such date, even though you may be a “one man show.” There are many more tricks, but the point is this. Business owners and others treat people as they present themselves. If a business thinks that someone is without means or lacks professional protocol, they are more likely to discount you, step all over you, or dismiss you altogether.

David Trahan
www.Neworleansmusicians.net

As a career management coach, for me it’s not about “faking it” ever…..but, it is about strategic presentation. And, this takes real communication skills.

Bettina Seidman
SEIDBET Associates
www.seidbet.com

I do believe faking it is some what of a standard business practice particularly if you are a small business looking TO GROW. A lot of established organizations whether for profit or non for profit are more accepting of a large organization that is approaching them with an idea as opposed to a small organization with the same idea. I don’t necessarily like the word faking it, my word or words would be promoting my positives. The most important thing I believe is that you must be able to deliver what you promised.

I remember the lady that owns Spanx she led perspective clients to believe that she was bigger than she was when first starting out, but she delivered. How many time when you call a company nowadays you get a voice mail saying no one is at the desk now but you know that no one is ever at the desk because its either a one man show or a mom and pop operation and they are out in the field, so my interpretation of faking is definitely building an image for myself based on the future, which I am confident will be bright. Now lying is when someone makes a promise that they have no intention of fulfilling example you hire someone to do work on your house they take your money and the work is not done. Lying is when the owner of a building promises to fix certain things that are broken in your apartment and they don’t fix it.

Lying is Bernie Madoff leading people to believe they are wealthy or financially sound when they are not. Lying is Enron allowing their employees to think the company is financially sound and to keep investing their money while the folks at the top are taking their money out of the company.

Eton Lacon
www.wereworthit.com

My husband’s grandfather may be one of the first to believe in ‘fake it till you make it.’ The story goes that his grandfather used this tactic to find work as a machinist. He had no experience, and it was during the Great Depression.

The story goes that he would tell those hiring machinists that he had skills way beyond what he possessed. He would get hired and it would take a half-day, a full-day or sometimes a couple of days before his employers found out he ‘faked it.’ Of course he would be fired immediately. But, he made the most of his time inside the machine shop to find someone who would teach him a thing or two. With each successive job, he built on his skills. He eventually mastered machine skills and found full-time steady work to support his family.

Barbara Comiskey
Comiskey Communications, Inc.
www.comiskeycommunications.com

I do corporate training, specifically in the area of professional mentoring for both mentors and proteges. When I am teaching a new skill or behavior, I ask give the students the instruction to “fake it until they make it” because new behaviors don’t feel comfortable or natural. They have to step outside their comfort zone and practice, even when it doesn’t feel “right” to them. This is not lying. An example would be to pick up a pen or pencil with your non-dominant hand and write your name. It simply doesn’t feel right. With practice, however, it will become easier and easier. When I work with companies that are also making cultural changes or image changes, each person has to use the new materials and ways of providing service many times before everyone becomes proficient. We have so little patience in our culture for people and organizations to grow into changes and develop mastery, which takes practice. I believe this is the real intent behind the phrase. I have read that it takes more than 1,300 repetitions before a new behavior becomes a habit. My experience verifies that.

Susan Bender Phelps
www.OdysseyMentoring.com

People buy based on their confidence in the salesperson. When you’re new to selling, you don’t have all the answers, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have all the answers at your disposal or that you’re un-coachable. When asked a question for which you do not have the answer, smile, show genuine concern for their need and say, “Let me get that information for you.” Then go get it. Every new question asked is an opportunity for you to learn something new. Never fake your enthusiasm for the product, but do keep an air about you of knowledge and competence as you learn the ropes.

Tom Hopkins
Tom Hopkins International, Inc.
www.tomhopkins.com

What do You Think? Leave your comment below!