Fanatical Prospecting — Chapter-02: Seven Mindsets of Fanatical Prospectors
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Seven Mindsets
of Fanatical
Prospectors
We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born
different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary
people who made themselves extraordinary.
—Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines mindset as “a mental attitude or
inclination.” It can also be defined as “a mood, disposition, inclina-
tion, or intention” (reference.com).
Mindset is completely and absolutely within your control and
drives both the actions you take and your reactions to the environ-
ment and people around you.
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Success Leaves Clues
Success leaves clues. Highly successful people, from ancient philos-
ophers like Aristotle to modern-day thought leaders, have always
made the point that there is little need to “reinvent the wheel.” If
you study what successful people do, you find patterns. When you
duplicate those patterns, you’ll be able to duplicate their success.
Developing and maintaining a fanatical prospecting mindset is
the ultimate key to success in sales. This mindset keeps you focused,
persistent, and driven to open doors in the face of inevitable
setbacks, challenges, and rejection. When you adopt a fanatical
prospecting mindset, you’ll grow in the face of adversity rather than
shrink before it.
I’ve spent a lifetime studying fanatical prospectors. Along
the way I discovered seven core mindsets that define them. These
are their success clues. Duplicate these mindsets and you’ll
guarantee yourself success in filling your pipeline and crushing
your number.
- Optimistic and enthusiastic: Fanatical prospectors have a winning,
optimistic mindset. They know that negative, bitter people
with a victim mindset do not succeed in sales. Fanatical
prospectors attack each day with enthusiasm—fired up and
ready to rock. They view each day as a fresh new opportunity
to achieve. Because of this, they seize the day, brush past
naysayers and complainers, and dive into prospecting with
unequaled drive. Even on bad days they reach deep inside and
find enough stored enthusiasm to push themselves to keep
going and make one more call.
- Competitive: Fanatical prospectors view prospecting through
the eyes of a fierce competitor. They are hardwired to win and
will do whatever it takes to stay on top. They begin each day
prepared to win the battle for the attention of the most
coveted prospects, and outwit and outhustle their competitors
at every turn.
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Fanatical Prospecting
- Confident: Fanatical prospectors approach prospecting with
confidence. They expect to win and believe they are going
to win. They have developed mental toughness and the ability
to manage the disruptive emotions of fear, uncertainty, and
doubt. They leverage confidence and self-control to persuade
prospects to give up time and resources to engage in sales
conversations.
- Relentless: Fanatical prospectors have a high need for achieve-
ment. They do whatever it takes to reach their goal. They
never, ever give up believing that persistence always wins. They
use rejection as motivational fuel to get up and keep going with
a determined belief that their next “yes” is right around the
corner.
- Thirsty for knowledge: Fanatical prospectors welcome feedback
and coaching. They seek out every opportunity to learn and
invest in themselves by voraciously consuming books, pod-
casts, audiobooks, blog posts, online training, live seminars,
and anything else they believe will make them better. They
have an unshakable belief that everything happens for a reason
and through this lens view setbacks as opportunities to learn
and grow.
- Systematic and efficient: Fanatical prospectors have the ability to
execute with near-robotic and systematical efficiency. They are
skilled at their craft like a pro athlete. They protect the golden
hours, block their time, and concentrate their power to tune out
distractions and avoid disruptions. They systematically develop
their prospect database to build more effective and targeted lists,
and squeeze every moment from each sales day.
- Adaptive and flexible: Fanatical prospectors have acute situational
awareness. Because of this, they are able to respond and adapt
quickly to changing situations and circumstances. They leverage
the three As in their approach to prospecting: adopt, adapt,
adept. They actively search out and adopt new ideas and best
practices, then adapt them as their own, and work at it until they
become adept at execution. Fanatical prospectors are constantly
trying new things and flexing with the world around them—
whatever it takes to keep their pipeline full. They tend to be
Seven Mindsets of Fanatical Prospectors
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early adopters of new prospecting techniques, cutting-edge
technology, and game-changing tactics.
Look around you. I guarantee that you will find that the
highest-earning sales professionals in your town, city, networking
groups, and company are fanatical prospectors. From insurance to
real estate to industrial products to software to mobile to autos to
trucks to medical device and pharmaceutical—in every industry and
every company—they share these seven mindsets.
As you move forward through this book, use these seven
mindsets as a foundational reference point to assess where you
have room to grow and further develop your mindset.
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Fanatical Prospecting