Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.”

This is one of my favorite quotes in the world.

Our behavior follows our thinking.

We do what we think.

Our beliefs shape our actions.

So, if you wake up in the morning and believe you're going to have a terrible day, you probably will. You'll be looking for it to be terrible. You'll even be taking actions that will help your day be terrible. You'll be actively undermining yourself:

• “Of course, there's traffic! What else is new?”
• “My son is going to argue with me, but today I'm going to give it back to him!”
• “I hate getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist's—it's going to hurt like crazy.”

Now, if you wake up in the morning and believe you're going to have a good day, there's a good chance that you will. You will be looking for the upside and opportunity and value in exactly the same experiences. The events won't change one bit, but your orientation to them will be totally different, which will change your thinking entirely, which will, of course, affect your behavior and, ultimately, your mood:

• “The extra time in the car will let me listen to that good audio book I've been meaning to get to—or, imagine it!, to call some of my customers proactively and check in with them.”
• “When my son pushes back today, it will be a wonderful teaching moment and we'll examine both sides of the issue calmly.”
• “I'm not looking forward to the dentist today, but who does? When it's done, my teeth will look great, and I won't have to go again for another six months!”

Exactly the same situations, but a completely different mental approach.

The latter, the optimistic one, identifies the upside of each difficult situation you might encounter today. Conversely, the former, pessimistic approach looks at the worst‐case scenario of each frustration. Which approach do you think will lead to the better day?

I love the Henry Ford quote because it addresses many of the elements that are required for fast sales growth, and many of the areas that I work on with clients.

Optimism Makes Money

Optimistic salespeople will always outsell pessimistic ones.

If you think you will make the sale before your meeting or phone call, there is a chance that you will.

But if you think you will not make the sale, I will bet my children's college money—which is very important to me—that you will not succeed.

Either way, you're right.

In Martin Seligman's seminal book, Learned Optimism, he argues that we can train ourselves to be optimistic. There's a reason he's widely acknowledged as the father of positive psychology. In this case, as in nearly all cases with Seligman, he's exactly right.

I teach salespeople to be more optimistic every day by showing them how happy their customers really are, because—as discussed at length throughout this book—we lose track of how happy our customers are. They don't tell us and we don't ask—because we're all busy—and we only hear from the customers who are either unhappy or stressed out.

I see salespeople and managers and executives becoming more optimistic every day.

I also see the vast majority of them sell more as a result.

Why is optimism so important? Here are the four major reasons:

1. Optimistic salespeople tend to have an internal locus of control. That is, my success is within my control. To sell more, I can call more customers and prospects, offer them more products and services to buy, and then ask them for some referrals. Conversely, pessimistic salespeople feel there is little they can do, but, rather, that things are happening to them: to sell more, we really need to lower our prices and expand our product range. Since that is not within our control as salespeople, we feel that there is nothing we can do to grow sales.
2. Your approach will reflect your optimism: you will look for more ways to help your customers more. You will see objections as interests rather than failures. You'll be active, present, and helpful.
3. Your language, and even your tone, will be positive. You'll focus on what is possible rather than on what isn't. You'll speak with energy and brightness, which your customers will respond to positively.
4. That's because people are drawn to optimism and positivity, and are repelled by pessimism and negativity. We want to do business with people who we like. If I'm the customer, and you make me feel badly every time we talk, I'm going to avoid talking with you, and quickly. On the other hand, if you're a positive and happy person who I enjoy spending time with, I'm going to look for opportunities to speak with you!

That's how it works. Buyers who enjoy working with their salespeople look for opportunities to spend more money with them. If you're optimistic, you're enjoyable to be around. If you are pessimistic you are, basically and by definition, unpleasant to be around. And you will be avoided.

How to Be Optimistic

Here are some quick ways to develop optimism:

1. Regularly think about your wins. Consider the successes you've had. Our nature is to focus on the failures and the rejections. Those come with the territory, but we tend to dwell there. Don't. Go over your wins. Think about them. Think about the good work you did. Analyze it. Write it up. Look at it. Enjoy it. Appreciate it.
2. Be grateful. We are so lucky. We get to help people! There are prospects and customers who want to work with us, and who very much appreciate what we do. We get to make money by helping people in amazing ways. That's pretty wonderful.
3. Listen to your happy customers. Go through the conversations with customers I lay out in Part III of this book. Ask them what they like best about working with you and then believe them. They're telling you the truth. You're fantastic.
4. Simply, choose optimism. You get to decide every day if you will be optimistic or pessimistic. You even get to decide on every phone call. It's completely in your control.
5. Think that you can, and you will. Think that you can't, or won't, and you will not. There's really only one right decision, isn't there? The choice is ours. It's up to us. Choose optimism!