In the song Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan penned a lyric that has stayed with people for decades: “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” This lyric implies that if someone has nothing to start with, they have nothing to fear or worry about losing. Interestingly, the same applies if you have everything.
People who have an abundance of something behave differently because they don’t fear losing some of it. The idea of being “independently wealthy” suggests that great wealth enables people to be independent or unaffected by the influence of others.
Financial abundance doesn’t make people disinterested or detached. Instead, it gives them the freedom to pursue their goals without the fear of rejection or failure. The consequence of losing a small portion of tremendous wealth is insignificant and doesn’t cause concern.
So, what happens to salespeople who convince themselves that they are financially wealthy, even if they aren’t?
The answer is that it changes everything about how they engage, persuade, and advocate with others. An affluent or wealth mindset is a set of beliefs that promote the idea that an individual possesses financial abundance and enjoys long-term prosperity, whether it is objectively true or not. When a salesperson thinks of themselves aswealthy, they act as if they are immune to rejection and failure.
This leads them to act with greater confidence, to become more persistent about pursuing goals, and to attack opportunities.
The status and socioeconomic influence of others have little effect on them. Because they don’t have to make sales to survive (or so they tell themselves), they prioritize long-term relationships over short-term gains.
They view deals, trades, transactions, and sales as tools for growth rather than as a result.
This is all due to a shift in thinking, a mindset of wealth and affluence that they carry on the inside. People talk themselves into temporary realities all the time. We convince ourselves to remain optimistic when facing setbacks, expert when presenting, knowledgeable when teaching others, wise when giving advice, and convicted when making an argument.
The best salespeople don’t convince themselves that they are wealthy. They convince themselves to adopt an affluent mindset.
This means thinking, feeling, and acting AS IF they were financially independent. Even when their bank account doesn’t match that belief, salespeople come to recognize the confidence an affluent mindset gives them when engaging others.
Thinking as if they don’t need a sale to make ends meet makes them more aggressive and confident in attaining one. The most successful salespeople don’t always have a better style, approach, or strategy. Sometimes, they simply have a different mindset.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
