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Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real

Apr 26, 2019 11:00:00 AM

I can’t claim the original thought on this powerful acronym, but I admit I use it quite often in Growth Dynamics’ sales training programs. There is never a shortage of conversations that lead to a client/student that hears a sales tactic that makes him or her uncomfortable and blurts out a sentence that begins with these two words; what if…

This simple two word phrase is the front door to a stash of fears. Fears that hold a person back, stop him or her from growing or gives them a reason to not try a new tactic or approach. What if they get angry? What if they think I’m too pushy? What if they throw me out? What if I tried for two years to get in and it upsets the prospect? All these fears of things that most likely won’t determine the outcome, but for some reason sure sound like outcomes that will definitely be experienced. I believe that in most cases the beliefs that salespeople use to justify their lack of guts is just a big bunch of FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL.

If you live your life constantly afraid of a what if scenario, well, frankly, you are about as good as you will ever get. The best things in life tend to go to those people that take the biggest risks (not foolish, just biggest) and hear a what if and go ahead anyway. These people know that most of the time the thing they worry about never happens, it is just a challenge to their determination and commitment. There is an old adage that applies here; you can’t get to second with one foot on first. Either you commit to taking the extra base or you play it safe and wait for the next batter to determine where you end up.

This post isn’t suggesting you run head long into every situation without a healthy dose of fear or trepidation, but it is suggesting that before you decide to move forward or stop trying that you take a few minutes and determine if the risk is really too big or if you have allowed yourself to buy into more FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL.

 

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