9 tips for sales confidence

People judge you within seconds of meeting you. It’s just a fact. The first impression you make on potential buyers is vital to how to sell with confidence – and it’s done entirely through your nonverbal communication. How are you approaching them? Are you shuffling to them? Do you stand to the side, with your arms folded across your chest? This posture makes you appear closed off and unapproachable. Are you looking at the floor, or out a window, instead of making solid eye contact? A buyer will see this behavior and decide you’re flaky. And you haven’t even started talking yet.

Building confidence in sales starts with your body language, which sends a silent message to everyone you communicate with. You want to appear knowledgeable and trustworthy to customers while putting them at ease. Stand up straight and curb any nervous habits. Fidgeting makes you appear insecure when you want to look calm and collected. Changing your physiology can actually make you feel more confident, so throw your shoulders back. Adopt a power pose, like putting your hands on your hips. When you project confidence with your body, the customer will feel they are in good hands – and be more likely to want to do business with you. 

Mirroring takes advantage of mirror neurons in our brains to help us build rapport and connect with others. You can mirror someone by using similar body language, matching their tone of voice and adjusting the words you choose to better communicate with them. This deepens your connection to the person and often leads them to a more favorable response. All these are important elements, but don’t forget physical feedback. Nodding and smiling, when appropriate, shows the customer that you’re listening and allows you to build further rapport.

As you’re researching building confidence in sales, take stock of your current state. When you think about making a sale, how do you feel? Are you anxious? Does it make you excited? If you are operating in a state of fear or uncertainty when it comes to securing sales, you’ll alert potential customers to your negative mindset, and they will go elsewhere. To train yourself to be comfortable and relaxed when making sales, you first need to recognize how you’re really feeling. Focus on that feeling: if it’s negative, let it pass and replace it with an empowering belief. If it’s positive, reinforce it. You’ll be in total control of your emotions in no time.

Todd Herman, who was a guest on The Tony Robbins Podcast, is an expert in helping people adapt to challenging situations. One of his top sales confidence tips is to develop an alter ego that allows you to step into a different persona to achieve your goals. For example, if you lack sales confidence, create an alternative version of you that is the best salesperson at your company. How do they talk? What kind of words do they choose? Notice their body language and sense of self. What changes would you make to your own posture and language to walk like them and sound like them? Once you know how to create an alter ego that serves your mission – making sales – you can channel this person whenever you need.

Sales confidence doesn’t always come naturally – many top salespeople have just figured out how to read their customers’ meta-programs. There are seven meta–programs, or mental processes that determine how you see the world. For instance, does someone have an external or internal frame of reference? If someone has an external frame of reference, they turn to sources outside themselves to validate their decisions. If they have an internal frame of reference, they don’t need the approval of others. If you’re selling a product to someone with an external frame of reference, you’d tell them statistics about how many other people have purchased the product or provide positive customer testimonials. If you can decipher which meta-programs someone uses, you can build a customized pitch that influences their decisions – the essence of how to sell with confidence.

Communication is about much more than mirroring body language and learning meta-programs. The most essential skill when it comes to selling with confidence is actually practicing deep listening. From there, you can anticipate objections, create solutions ahead of time and gain commitment from your customers. You can even learn how to adapt your communication style, another advanced strategy that many great leaders have mastered.