What Meditation Can Teach You About Sales
Those who take a few minutes for mindful meditation each day experience many benefits, from greater self-awareness to better emotional health. For salespeople, meditating can lead to improved listening skills, better mental resilience, slower reactions for improved critical thinking, and reduced stress, which leads to better overall health and more time for selling.
If you don't regularly meditate or you've never tried sitting in silence for a short time, it's worth checking out. You don't even need to carve out a big chunk of time—just a few minutes will do the trick. Alex Kremer, a speaker and account executive who has worked at Microsoft and Docusign, recently meditated for 365 days in a row and discovered three big takeaways from this daily practice. In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, we explore Kremer's findings and how meditation can help you achieve more success in sales.
Lesson No. 1: Let the pressure be heard. With quotas and deadlines looming, Kremer admits that the pressure salespeople sometimes feel can be crushing. Rather than trying to tamp down that tension, Kremer learned to accept it. He found that when he turned toward the tension, he could see the gift in it. It's healthier for salespeople to acknowledge job stress than keep pushing it down and grinding it out.
Lesson No. 2: Acknowledge without judgment. Many of us are guilty of overthinking and wondering how we ended up at a certain conclusion. Through meditation, Kremer learned to become aware of the overthinking and decided to simply listen to his mind and body. By being more mindful, Kremer says he has become more empathetic with prospects during conversations. He can more easily pick up on tensions and nuances. Noticing these things without judging takes practice, but in the long run, Kremer says it allows for stronger relationships to form.
Lesson No. 3: Stop the burnout before it happens. When you work in sales, the calls, e-mails, negotiations and meetings seem to stack up without an end in sight. While you might be used to powering through, Kremer suggests a different approach: take a step back. When you feel your stress mounting and you feel you are approaching your breaking point, pause for a moment. Take a few deep breaths. Center yourself. Level your nerves before getting back to work.
What started as a year-long practice for Kremer has become a lifelong journey. He recommends starting at five minutes of meditation every day and seeing where that takes you. A variety of apps offer guided meditation, or you can simply quiet your mind, breathe in for four seconds and exhale for five seconds. If a guided or structured meditation isn't right for you, Kremer recommends simply sitting quietly for two minutes with no book, television, laptop or people to interrupt this dedicated time.
Whether you start your day with a morning meditation, squeeze in some quiet time on your lunch break or fit in some mindfulness before bed, meditation can do wonders for your stress levels and productivity in the workplace.
Source: Alex Kremer is a speaker and an account executive who has experience working at Microsoft and Docusign.