Pay attention to your attention

Knowing the answers to these questions could impact your sales success more than you can imagine, not only for today but for the rest of your career.

In my last column, I shared with you how you could “be in the zone anytime you want” and “double your closing ratio.” I said there was a master skill that all people who excel were tapping into, often unconsciously.

The key to being in the zone and doubling your closing ratio is the same: attention.

Right now as you are reading these words you are doing so through the power of your attention. Let’s try an experiment to get you in touch with this power. For a moment, focus on your left big toe. Did you notice you have a left big toe? Good. So I could say you have a left big toe but you weren’t paying attention to it, couldn’t I? I could also say you have an attention, right? Wrong. If you observe closely, you will see you don’t have an attention – your attention has you.

Are you asking, “What does attention have to do with sales?” Think back to a time when someone was talking to you and you were “acting” like you were listening as you either thought about what you were going to say or drifted to other topics (hopefully) related to what the person was saying. Well, I have bad news for you. The last person you thought you were selling – the one who said, “That sounds interesting, I’ll think about it” – wasn’t paying attention. In most cases, that is French for “I was drifting while you were talking and I am uncomfortable making a decision knowing I wasn’t really paying attention.”