I was recently listening to an interview with author Daniel Pink where he was talking about recent research into the types of people who are most successful in making sales. One of the things I love about Dan is that he is willing to look past conventional wisdom and analyze real data to see what works and what doesn’t.
One of the pieces of research he discussed dealt with what happens when we make positive statements about how we would like things to turn out.
The example he gave in the interview was a comparison of salesmen. One group said, “I am going to kill this sale,” while the other group asked, “Am I going to make this sale?”
The group that asked the question was much more successful in making sales.
The reason being that when we ask questions like that we name the proof that we already have that we could be successful at the task. A salesman might think, “I know this client. I know my product and I know that it can improve their life. If I share that honestly they will see it is a good fit.”
Whereas the statement, “I am going to kill this sale!” might feel like false bravado and the salesman will approach the sale with less conviction.
We can add the use of these questions to our tapping practice AND tap while we use them to add extra effect.
The next time you want to do something instead of saying, “I am going to do this!” ask yourself the question, “Can I do this?” (I would recommend that you tap the whole time you do this.)
One of two things will happen.
1) You will start to list all the proof as to why you can do this and action will become easier with confidence and a plan.
2) You will uncover all the negative self-talk as to why you can’t do it so you will then have the root causes to tap on.
Either way you win!
Please let me know how asking these types of questions works for you.
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