Confidence is everything in business. Your belief and enthusiasm speaks volumes to prospects and customers. Here are five keys to building confidence.

1. Activity increases confidence. Cold calls, phone activity and presentations that get your reps in front of decision-makers give your folks an added boost of confidence. The harder your reps work to find new prospects or sell more to existing customers, the more confidence your sales and marketing staffers will have in their ability to add to the bottom line.

2. Success breeds success. After a sale, encourage sales and marketing staffers to contact more buyers immediately. Their enthusiasm and confidence are at their highest when they’re on a roll. They let the success of one event immediately be poured into others.

3. Get out of a comfort zone. Some salespeople try to play it safe, concentrating on their existing customers and ignoring new sales opportunities because of the challenges involved. Others build confidence by doing things they didn’t think they could do. They call on CEOs of large companies who have reputations for being tough negotiators. They try something they’ve never done before where there’s a high risk and the potential for a high reward.

4. Show high levels of empathy. The ability of your reps to put themselves in the customer’s shoes and respond accordingly is a great confidence builder. Sales and marketing folks become indispensable when they demonstrate that they understand customer problems and goals, and have the ability to give the customer exactly what he or she needs.

5. Assure satisfaction. Customer follow up is essential. When customers see a reps’ commitment to service, they usually won’t listen to price-cutters.

Tags: confidence, enthusiasm