In the early 1960s, an American psychologist and university professor Walter Mischel conducted the so-called marshmallow test. He tested four-year old children on their self-control, a skill known as delayed gratification. Every child was given a choice: take only one candy now ... or wait and enjoy two sweets later. The research showed that children able to control themselves achieve more success in adulthood. People who can control themselves and do not expect to be successful immediately are more suited to the world of business. Eyeonsales.com described how to recognise whether the members of your team are able to wait for success.
1) Inability to plan
If your salespeople are mostly interested in what they have to do today and do not care about the long-term plan, they will probably not bring your firm much success. The efforts of your salespeople should be focused long-term. Salespeople should be able to plan ahead and reach their targets gradually.
2) Inability to move forward
Salespeople meet with clients but the meetings are short, stilted and ineffective. Those who want immediate success do not make time for practising and training their selling skills, so they will not improve in this area. People who possess delayed gratification skills will try harder and train more.
3) Inability to close an important deal
Those who want everything immediately will hardly find the patience gradually to negotiate the closure of major deals. In contrast, salespeople capable of a high level of self-control put in the time on pre-calling, creating effective questions and are able to justify their offer against those of competitors. They are also willing to meet with people at different levels of the decision-making process in the company.
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