new sales quota. We observe the prospect’s negative nonverbal expressions while we present our product. We take in the drama of life.


2. Swallowing (or: to gulp). After the grinding stage, we transfer the experience. We may respond to the boss with an expression of approval and react to the client with a forced smile. We respond with behavior we consider “socially acceptable.”


3. Digestion through logic (or: to hiccup). As we respond, or shortly thereafter, we may experi- ence a stream of thoughts such as: “My boss is coming on strong today,” or, “This client appears uptight. What did I do wrong?”


4. Digestion through emotion (or: to hash over). In this phase, your stream of thought starts to select corresponding feelings such as: “I feel a bit anxious about what the boss said today,” or, “This client left me with a bad mood.”


5. Chewing the cud (or: to rumi- nate). Your thoughts and feel- ings begin to produce a series of daydreams that may dance through your mind, such as: “My boss must have been drunk when he set the sales quota; I get a headache just thinking about it. Why does he always ask for the impossible?” or, “I can’t figure what went wrong with this client. What made him so uptight? I don’t think my presentation was very good. What’s wrong with me? If I had been able to turn the situation around, I would feel good now, but I feel bad about this. I could see it on his face: He didn’t like my presentation.”


6. Regorging the past (or: to re-animate). You realize with surprise that you’ve had similar thoughts and feelings before. Now you recognize a mischie- vous connection between the recent experience and your past. Here is what your mind may


replay from your past: “My father


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expected a lot from me. He never gave me much appreciation for what I did. No matter what I did, it was not good enough for him.” At this point, you may re-expe- rience old feelings of self-doubt, or you may recall how frustrated you get whenever a customer gets uptight. You feel that his reactions to your well-prepared presentations are unfair. You re-experience your old desire to possess magic powers to help you break the spell.


7. Assimilation (or: to absorb). In this final phase, you reconstruct your old, comfortable state of mind with a series of thoughts such as, “My boss expects a lot; it’s his job. I don’t have to get anxious about his expecta- tions, nor do I have to wallow in self-pity. I’ll resign myself to the fact that I need to do my best to meet the sales quota. Instead of spending my energy by fighting the past, I’ll concentrate on do- ing my job.” Or you may resolve your bad


feelings about the uptight pros- pect with ideas like: “I can only influence the prospect’s decision; I can’t control the prospect. I’d like to, but this is not realistic. I


‘‘


Leadership is action, not position.


DONALD MCGANNON


will stop blaming myself. I did my best. In the future, I will try to look more closely for the early signs of customer resistance so I avoid knocking myself out.”


YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO IGNORE YOUR MIND Don’t try to ignore your mind’s seven-step process. Don’t brush off its enormous influence on your sales performance, your personal atti- tude, and your precious feelings of self-worth. Should you encounter a negative experience, don’t try to play down your reactions by pretending to be removed (“It doesn’t affect me”) when your mind is preoccupied with ruminating or regorging the past. To recognize the digestive process and to facilitate its performance is your most important job. Don’t stick your head in the sand.


You won’t be able to find the solu- tions there; your problems will only grow over your head. Uncritical self-


VIDEO: THE COMING APOCALYPSE OF COLD OUTREACH


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