Mindset Edition | 'Purpose-Driven Thinking' for Beginners: What Only Top Salespeople Possess

What is your purpose for working?

What is your purpose for wanting to earn money?

What is your purpose for learning sales?

What is your purpose for reading this note?

How many of you can clearly answer immediatelyto all these questions? At the very least, when my sales performance was poor in the past, I did not have a clear answer to any of these questions.

I hadn't even firmly decided the purpose of the 'work' that takes up most of my day and most of my life.Of course, I had vague answers like 'I want money' or 'I want to support my family.' But when asked what the purpose of that was,
I would keep digging deeper until I no longer knew the answer.

However, by acquiring the mindset of firmly establishing a purpose, not only did my sales performance improve, but my life itself, including my personal relationships, gradually took a turn for the better.

In this article, I will explain in detail the importance of acting with a purpose.
By reading this article, let's say goodbye from today to the feeling of emptiness that comes from wondering, 'What am I working so hard for?'

What it means to have a purpose

All of you salespeople are likely working hard every day to approach new customers.
Whether it's cold calling, visiting, referrals, or responding to inquiries, the methods may vary, but you must be working enthusiastically while struggling to acquire new business.

However, what is the purpose behind those actions?
Of course, I understand that you say the purpose is to 'acquire new customers.' Beyond that, what is the purpose for which you are acquiring new customers?

Is it to win a contract?

If so, what is the purpose for which you are winning that contract?

Is it to generate sales?

Is it to solve the customer's problems?

Is it to increase your own salary?

Then, for what purpose do you do those things?

It's persistent, isn't it? However, imagine this. What if every question had a solid purpose, and by acting on those purposes,
you could achieve something socially significant that brings joy to others?

Wouldn't you be able to truly believe that unpleasant new business development is 'a valuable action for the sake of the world and others'?
And by truly believing that, wouldn't you be able to approach it with confidence?

Having a purpose is not a technique, but an important mindset within yourself.
A vessel could also be used to describe it.
If sales techniques are water, you can only put a little water into a small vessel.
However, you can put a large amount of water into a large vessel.

I interpret that there are vessels of various genres.

・Vessel as a salesperson
・Vessel as a working professional
・Vessel as a man
・Vessel in a marital relationship
・Vessel regarding money

There are endless genres if you start listing them. What you put inside depends on the genre of the vessel.
It might be water, it might be sand, or it might be air.

Here, I will specialize in explaining how to expand your vessel as a salesperson.

You need to have a clear purpose in two directions

■ A purpose with the arrow pointing toward yourself

■ A purpose with the arrow pointing toward the other party (the customer)

You need to think in these two directions.
With only a one-way purpose, purpose-driven thinking will not function perfectly.

【Purpose with the Arrow Pointing Toward Yourself】

It is less difficult to clarify a purpose directed at yourself than one directed at the other party.
Let's start by clarifying the purpose directed at yourself.

To clarify it, we use a method of
sizing down from a large purpose to a smaller one.

Using 'the purpose of approaching new customers'
as our subject, let's clarify the purpose directed at yourself.

① Purpose of approaching new customers
↓
To win a contract.

② Why approach new customers to win a contract?
↓
Because to win a contract, I need to make a proposal and get the customer's agreement, so I must create an opportunity for a business meeting.

③ Why approach new customers to create an opportunity for a business meeting?
↓
Because new customers won't be acquired just by waiting.

The purpose of approaching new customers is that since new customers won't come just by waiting, you need a business meeting to win a contract, and to create that meeting, you have no choice but to reach out yourself.

You might be thinking, 'Why is he stating something so obvious?' and feeling unimpressed.
However, how many people are actually carrying out their approach to new customers while constantly keeping this purpose in mind?

If your method of approaching new customers is cold calling or visiting,
you are likely making dozens or hundreds of approaches every day.
If you could acquire new customers immediately, this wouldn't be an issue, but if you are rejected dozens of times in a row, you might gradually find that
the purpose of approaching new customers
becomes just acquiring a new customer
.

Or, in an even worse scenario,
has making the call itself become the purpose, or has visiting itself become the purpose?

Approaching new customers is not the goal in itself.
The ultimate goal is to win the contract.
With this mindset, it's like setting out on a trip around the world but only having enough money for the stay in the first country.
It's like starting to climb Mount Fuji but taking a route that only goes up to the second station.
(I couldn't think of a good analogy. If you have a better one, please let me know in the comments.)

In other words, by clarifying the purpose with the arrow pointing toward yourself, you create a state where you can keep the goal of winning the contract in sight from the very start of the approach phase
—this is the crux of this discussion.

Unfortunately, this concludes the beginner's edition.
Regarding 'purpose,' it is, along with 'values,' the most important theme at the Hearing Lab.
In the intermediate edition,

We will explain the main theme of having a purpose
that is directed toward the other party (the customer).

Also, in the practical application section,

we will introduce 'how to construct and use purpose-driven sales talk' that you can start using today, which will not only significantly increase your closing rate.

Please look forward to it.

If you have not yet read about values, which is the most important theme, you can read it for free here, so please take a look.