“Hanzo!!!” in a very anxious and loud tone, my senior salesperson approaches me.
“Company X has to postpone the deal because they have a new country manager and apparently the new boss is going on a cost-saving initiative and will not approve any deal until he assessed the whole company’s financial expenditures. So, I won’t know when I can get the deal signed! This is a 6 figures deal. My income for this quarter will be so affected because of this. This suck!”
With great empathy, I replied “Yup, that really sucks. Your forecast for this deal is gone. You really did a lot for this deal; building great relationships with all stakeholders and providing the right solutions to tackle the HOD’s pain and panic.”
I continued with the objective of getting him out of pain “While your income for this quarter is affected and the situation is beyond your control, just give it a thought – is this the worst thing that can happen to you?”
He goes into a deep-thinking look and moments later he replied “Come to think of it; it’s not a problem which can’t be solved. It’s not like someone died or something.”
I pressed on with my coaching questions, “Good point. This is the kind of problem when X doesn’t work out, we move on to Y. So, what other deals can you work on immediately?”
“I will tackle Company Z; it has good potential, I have already spoken to the sales director, now it’s just moving the meeting forward to present to the CEO.”
“What support do you need from me on this?” I queried.
“So far so good, no major obstacles, I can handle this. I can do it!” he replied positively.
Many times, we felt that things that happened to us are the worst ever because at that moment, we are emotionally stressed, and our mind is stuck on the problem instead of the solution. Have you ever been in such a situation? Well, just breathe, talk to someone to coach you out of it. Don’t depress yourself into quitting or being negative. Go for a walk. Relax. If it is not life-threatening, it is not a major issue and you can do it!
