SP: How would you define helpless- ness for the layperson? DR. SELIGMAN: It is a response to situations where events are uncon- trolled.


SP: So the opposite of helplessness would be mastery, or control. DR. SELIGMAN: Yes.


SP: So, according to your definition, positive events can also produce helplessness. Correct? DR. SELIGMAN: Absolutely. If positive events come to you indepen- dent of anything you do, then you get the same kind of helplessness induced by negative events. We call it “success depression.”


SP: Have you ever experienced a success depression? DR. SELIGMAN, chuckling: No. Just the reverse. My successes have come by diligent effort and hard work.


SP: Can you illustrate the internal process of helplessness in a selling situation?


DR. SELIGMAN: Let’s take some negative, uncontrollable event like losing an important sale. You may per- ceive you are helpless, you are lost, you are defeated. Then you ask what caused it. At this point in the flow of events you can escape mental pain by saying, “My customer doesn’t need this now,” and that will take care of it.


SP: You are opening the window. DR. SELIGMAN: Right. However, the poor salesperson closes it by saying, “I am no good at this job. I can’t sell this product.” If you interpret it that way, then you become passive. You tend to give up with a large number of customers and you tend to blame yourself and feel bad about yourself.


SP: I have read your scientific study of life insurance salespeople and I would like to go through a quick checklist of the consequences of helplessness. First, it saps motivation to respond in future situations.


‘‘


It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings. –ANN LANDERS


DR. SELIGMAN: Correct.


SP: It disrupts the ability to learn from the situation. DR. SELIGMAN: I would add that it also inhibits the ability to be creative in the situation.


SP: It lowers the expectation for future successes. DR. SELIGMAN: Right.


SP: It produces emotional disturbances. DR. SELIGMAN: Specifically sadness, anxiety, and hostility. It also generates fear and depression.


SP: It reduces the body’s immune system.


DR. SELIGMAN: Right.


SP: And you found that salespeople earn less and their job security decreases.


DR. SELIGMAN: Both are correct.


SP: The big question is, what can we do about it? How do we respond to tough situations in a confident, optimistic way? How do we unlearn the helplessness response? DR. SELIGMAN: The president of Metropolitan Life asked me the same question. We began our research by developing a questionnaire to predict who was going to react this way. As a result, we immediately lowered turnover by hiring people with what we call “positive explanatory styles.” Next, we developed a training program we call “Optimism Sales Training.” Essentially we introduce people to a process for changing their explanatory styles. It is a four-day program where people learn how to deal with overwhelming negative thoughts. They learn to be more active


and creative in the face of failure.


SP: Do you feel there is a relationship between the way we explain success and failure and our future sales productivity? DR. SELIGMAN: I think the relation- ship is pretty direct. I think that those salespeople who have adopted an optimistic style for dealing with negative events will make the next call faster; they are going to be more creative on the next call and they are going to sell more.


SP: They learn to recover more quickly.


DR. SELIGMAN: Yes. Selling is a very special profession. We have tested many different groups – from West Point students to Olympic athletes. Selling is unique simply because you are exposed to a lot of nos. Therefore, only a very special group of people is going to do well in it.


SP: Do you feel salespeople handicap themselves more through making a mistake, or more through the irratio- nal explanation following the mistake? DR. SELIGMAN: I think it is the explanation.


SP: Have you ever been out on actual sales calls?


DR. SELIGMAN: Yes. When my father had his stroke, I spent the next five years selling magazines in upstate New York. At age 16, I was making more money than I did until I was a full professor. I think there are two aspects to selling. The first are the technical mistakes – and your com- mon sales training courses can help you with that. But your training, your experience, and your talent can only go so far. Where do you learn to think


SELLING POWER AUGUST 2016 | 17 © 2016 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32