We have all been there before. There are only a few days left in the month, and you are hanging by a thread to earn a tier payout or hit a sales quota. That sinking feeling, a sense of foreboding, starts to creep in. The pressure is on and you begin to think, “What if I miss out? Look at all of the money I will lose. I can’t afford to miss that incentive payout.” You think it over and over as you exert more and more self-pressure. You begin to realize and feel failure, and often your fears become reality…a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Next time, when the pressure is on, stay positive and remember the following:

1. You cannot control what the customer is going to do, you can only influence their decision.

Every salesperson can recall what they believed was a perfectly delivered pitch, only to be rebuffed by their prospect. Conversely, think of how frequently you can blow your sales pitch and still get the sale. Always remember you are unable to control how well you sell – only how well you offer. The good news is in the majority of situations, if you consistently offer well, you will sell well. When you are under the gun, focus on the following sales fundamentals:

• Greet and build rapport
• Identify wants and needs
• Offer the product that best meets the customer’s needs
• Answer all questions positively
• Offer ancillary products after the primary product is secure
• No matter what happens, close positively

2. Visualize your desired outcome, not your potential failure.

World-class athletes spend years training their minds to “see” and “claim” victory before they achieve it. What does success look like for you? Visualize yourself achieving the highest level of performance and you will engage the power of your subconscious mind to make it happen. The best time to create these “success imprints” is right before you go to sleep and as soon as you wake up in the morning. Research suggests this is when your subconscious mind is most impressionable.

3. Replace worry with work.

Worry is wasteful and destructive. Instead, spend your time practicing and preparing. Remember, you may be unable to control the results of your sales efforts, but you can control the behaviors that lead to these results. Ready yourself for the day by giving yourself an encouraging pep talk. Keep telling yourself that you are confident, that you will overcome this challenge, and that the results you seek are a given. Arrive early to work and prepare your workstation. Disorganization and arriving late increase your stress levels and make your customers feel uncomfortable. Most of all focus on how your products and/or services help the customers you encounter. Selling for your customer instead of to or at them will put you and your clients at ease, and position you for success.

Chris Brown - Senior Vice President, Frontline Performance Group

One of my more memorable client experiences occurred a few years ago while I was working with a company to improve customer service and ancillary sales. After conducting the initial discovery visits and leading the frontline team through our core seminars, the company experienced an almost immediate and very significant improvement in both service and sales.

The general manger was so delighted with the positive results of the program launch – the changes in employee attitude, happiness, and the positive bottom-line impact – he literally cried out, “Thank God for Frontline Performance Group!”

In that moment he understood the power behind our principles, program, and the reason for our unwavering commitment to creating service-based sales cultures: happy employees = great customer experiences = improved bottom-line results.

This, of course, is no secret. However, what most business owners and managers do not realize is that changing a workplace culture requires much more than just wishful thinking; it requires the implementation of a hyper-efficient, impactful business system. This takes time, commitment, persistence, and diligence. But as this client realized, those willing to transform their business culture into one that supports employees and a service-based sales environment will reap the benefits a peak performing sales organization has to offer.

Andy Racz - Senior Account Manager, Frontline Performance Group

Mary Kay Cosmetics has always been a brand synonymous with sales and service. Founded by Mary Kay Ash in 1963, the firm has since expanded into a global cosmetics company posting over $2 billion in annual wholesale sales. The company serves consumers in more than 35 markets worldwide and has over 2 million global independent sales representatives.

Growing a company to this size is no easy feat. It entails creating the right corporate environment, attracting the right type of people, as well as motivating and enabling your sales force to achieve great things. Mary Kay Ash was able to do all of this and more.

The following sales leadership actions are just a few of many that came directly from Mary Kay Ash’s playbook.

1. Know Your Role

In the early days of the company Mary Kay focused on her strengths – engaging and inspiring her team. Her son Richard Rogers, who still runs the company to this day, has said she believed her job was to “energize, recognize, teach, and motivate our independent sales force.” According to Richard, she left everything else to him.

2. When In Doubt Recognize

The pink Cadillac is a key incentive for Mary Kay’s top salespeople. A complimentary two year lease of a pink Cadillac is provided for each region’s top performer. At the end of the two year lease the sales star is eligible for another car if they continue to perform well. Since its inception in 1969, the pink Cadillac Career Car has been awarded to over 100,000 top performers and is still in effect today.

3. Balance Constructive Feedback With Positives

Mary Kay was legendary for her coaching and mentoring sessions. In her book The Mary Kay Way she described positive reinforcement as “Sandwiching every bit of criticism between two heavy layers of praise.” This relationship-focused approach to coaching made her sales force feel comfortable, valuable, and important to the company.

Implementing effective training, meaningful recognition programs, and valuable coaching sessions has been and continues to be very successful and lucrative for Mary Kay, Inc. So much so the company’s methods and direct sales model are still the envy of their competition and the focus of many business school case studies today.

Ken Stellon - Senior Vice President, Frontline Performance Group

To truly understand the value of your frontline do yourself a favor, go out and work on the frontline for a day. Is it really that easy to balance sales and service? Is it really that easy to keep a positive outlook after five consecutive rejections, three of which came from irate and disgruntled customers?

The pressure to repeat the process 10, 20, or 100 times a day can be exhausting, to say the least. Most decision makers in sales and service organizations were not promoted from the frontline, and have therefore never actually spent much meaningful time there. Putting yourself on the frontline will provide you with a completely different perspective and appreciation for what really goes on and what it takes to be successful.

Understanding and appreciating the challenging nature of frontline work is a critical first step to executing a successful sales and service program on a universal scale.

Orlando, Florida (February 12, 2010) – Frontline Performance Group today announced it has signed a partnership agreement with Integrated Supply Network, Inc., a master wholesale distributor, supply chain service provider and the nation’s largest independent tool and equipment specialist.

Under this agreement, FPG will assist Integrated Supply Network in developing the service and sales effectiveness of its Lakeland, Florida based mobile division call center. Frontline Performance Group’s focus will be centered on improving the division’s financial performance through inbound and outbound service and sales strategy development, and the reengineering of ISN’s sales management program.

“Today’s market demands that companies become more efficient at achieving revenue and profit gains through existing service and sales personnel, while providing superior customer service. Through the implementation of our sales performance system we can help ISN meet these demands by building a holistic culture of performance that will significantly drive their profitability and growth. We look forward to expanding into yet another exciting market segment, adding significant value to ISN and helping them achieve further differentiation as a market leader in the tool and equipment industry,” said Chris Brown, senior vice president of Frontline Performance Group.

For more information on Integrated Supply Network please visit www.isnweb.com.