Buoyancy is a key concept that Pink discusses in relation to a successful sales career. It goes without saying that it is also critical to a successful personal life as well. Pink describes buoyancy as “how to stay afloat amid the ocean of rejection,” or being able to be resilient and flexible when it comes to the highs and lows of sales. Just like in life, if you dwell on rejection, you can’t move forward or improve. This is why Pink has laid out three key elements of buoyancy: interrogative self talk, positivity ratios, and explanatory style.
The first element is before you enter a sales conversation and that is interrogative self talk. Interrogative self talk means asking yourself questions instead of talking to yourself in statements. If you ask yourself questions, you set yourself up to seek real solutions. This is similar to going through possible scenarios in your head before you enter a difficult conversation, even if 9/10 of those scenarios don’t come up in the real conversation, you are forcing yourself to think through some of those difficult questions or situations. By doing this you are motivating yourself to enter the conversation confidently and even if you are not confident, you set yourself up to successfully “fake-it-til-you-make-it.”
Some key questions to ask yourself are “Can I move these people?”, “What needs to happen to make this sale successful?”. “What can I do to help this prospect identify their need and figure out a way to solve it?” By working through some of these key questions, you will be better able to connect with your customer and more successfully come to a conclusion that satisfies their needs.
BoweryJE22
Libby, I this is a good post. I like how you end it by asking the key question we should all think of before we try to sell. I also like how you point out the goal of these questions is to better get to know the customer so you can make a more intelligent decision on how to sell.
Buoyancy is something that is very necessary when in sales because it can be so easy to think about the negative or a bad sales experience as permanent. However, it is important to keep a 3:1 positivity ratio and keep on going. Dont neglect the negative thoughts completely and use them as a catalyst for success as well.
My favorite part of buoyance is that telling yourself you can do it is less effective compared to asking yourself if you can do it. I have started to implement this throughout my life and I have not yet noticed a difference, but hope to see one in the future.