Be Mindful not Mind full

Mindfulness is often thought of the same as meditation, when in fact it is more than that.  Perhaps it is easier to understand mindfulness from the opposite, i.e. when do we consider someone as mindless?  When he does things without thinking, or when he does things with so much 'auto-pilot' that he becomes robotic and apply the same approach to different situations.  Like many salespeople assume customers like details and would go into details without considering the client's needs.  Mindlessness can also be found in salespeople that are ill prepared and incompetent, and yet try to pretend that they know.  

Simply put, mindfulness has 3 elements: you need to first take note of something, be aware of it, and remember that awareness.  So for example if I am being mindful in a sales meeting, it means that I have to take note of my client's objections, be aware that it is an objection and remember that awareness.  Note that once you have mindfulness of an experience, you will never forget that experience for the rest of your life.  It's that simple. 

In our training with our clients, we teach them how to increase sales with mindfulness as follows:

1. Plan the day before
2. Before every sales presentation, plan the responses to the likely objections
3. Listen to the real message of the customer, don't be distracted by noises like 'Your price is too high' may conceal the worry that your company's service is poor
4. Do not talk while the customer is talking
5. Be careful of non-verbal objections, like the showing of uneasiness of the client
6. Do not defend when the prospect raises objection, instead listen to the reason behind the objection
7. See things from the customer's view
8. Empathise the customer's feelings
9. Be realistic, don't paint superfluous results
10. When in doubt, slow down and ask, don't continue talking
11. Think positive, and think of what can be done instead of what cannot be done
12. Do not dwell on the past
13. Do not over plan
14. Use words economically and don't say anything unnecessary
15. Do not confuse the customers with too many choices, keep your choices to 2 or 3, maximum 4
16. Always ensure, never assume anything
17. Give people the benefit of doubt, hear them out first before making your stand
18. When you find that the customer is giving you excuses after excuses, take a break and let him rest
19. Use your 5 senses fully: see, hear, touch, feel and smell.  
20. Most importantly, be in the present with the client.  Take out the trash, which is anything that keeps you away from the only thing that mattes, here and now.  When you are truly in the here and now, you will be amazed at what you can do and how well you do it

By Andy Ng, Chief Trainer at Asia Trainers, details are at here.  Related articles on mindfulness and sales:

1. Secret to Happiness is to have no self
2. The WIN Way to Win More Sales Effortlessly
3. The Biggest Payment to make in sales is to Pay Attention
4. 7 Ways to use love in business professionally
5. How to not get drained at work
6. Raise your fees by going for quality in a mindful way
7. The 7 Questions to Ask your Boss that will get you a Raise