The Saboteurs That Haunt Professional Service Providers
The Saboteurs That Haunt Professional Service Providers
Francesca, a character in my book, Stop the Saboteurs: Conquer Negative Thoughts that Hurt Your Revenue and Your Brand, represents all professional service providers who are launching their own practices within or without a corporate environment. These are the people that I refer to in my Monday Morning Tips as those that “live by their wits.”
Please see below for Francesca’s report card, and the likely report card of many professional service providers, when identifying their Saboteurs. This week’s tip will be dedicated to the her results with the Sales Saboteurs.
Francesca, the Corporate Refugee
X Sales Saboteur #1: The “I Hate Selling” Sales Saboteur
– Sales Saboteur #2: The “Negative Self-Talk” Sales Saboteur
X Sales Saboteur #3: The “Fear of Rejection” Sales Saboteur
X Sales Saboteur #4: The “Fears” Sales Saboteur
– Sales Saboteur #5: The “Scarcity” Sales Saboteur
– Sales Saboteur #6: The “Procrastination” Sales Saboteur
– Sales Saboteur #7: The “Lack of Resilience” Sales Saboteur
– Sales Saboteur #8: The “Lack of Self-Esteem” Sales Saboteur
X Sales Saboteur #9: The “Money” Sales Saboteur
X Sales Saboteur #10: The “True Value of Services” Sales Saboteur
Where did Francesca fit in this picture? She started her professional services firm with 5/10 Saboteurs in residence.
Saboteur #1, “I Hate Selling,” was firmly nestled in Francesca’s inner landscape and it led her to seek me out. Fortunately, her motivation to own her own business had not stopped her from giving in to her Saboteurs.
She was also a victim of Saboteur #3, the “Fear of Rejection” Saboteur, and Saboteur #4, the “Fears Tied to Revenue” Saboteur. Since Francesca had embraced negative social attitudes toward the sales role, she had ingested traditional fears around rejection, selling activities, and not reaching out to prospects that were in executive roles. Francesca had clear compartments in her mind as to “appropriate” conversations with her perceived “betters.”
Finally, the omnipresent Saboteurs-Saboteur #9, the “Money” Saboteur, and Saboteur #10, the “True Value of Services” Saboteur-were present in Francesca’s world. Her perception of money in her business was tied to her own bank account and not to the perception of the value of the services she provided to her clients. Unfortunately for Francesca, her own perception of the value of her services was considerably lower than the value that her clients put on her services.
Poor Francesca, it is very difficult to rise above a derisive attitude toward sales in any professional service environment. Many professionals choose to excel down in the trenches of an area of technical expertise so that they never have to be in a sales role and it is safe to assume that the sales role is poorly regarded in most white-collar environments. When a member of that environment makes the transition to a sales role, inevitably they will be infected by that attitude.
A curated excerpt from my book, Stop the Saboteurs: Conquer Negative Thoughts that Hurt Your Revenue and Your Brand.
Next week’s tip will highlight the list of “Referral Saboteurs” that Francesca, and her professional service colleagues are likely to encounter. There are 12 possible Referral Saboteurs.