These days at work, our senses are inundated. On a normal day, we send emails, join virtual calls, participate in project chat streams, leave voicemails, give sales presentations via our digital sales tool, enter data into our CRM, and the list goes on and on! Not a day goes by where it feels like our senses aren’t in overdrive. With all the digital stimulus that surrounds us, it’s no wonder it feels like our senses are overwhelmed on a day-to-day basis. But, when it comes down to it, how often are we really engaging our senses? Think about it. You send that routine email to a prospect without even having to think about what you’re going to type. You turn your camera on and look at your fellow teammates’ faces during your sales meeting, but you’re not really seeing them or hearing what they are saying. You upload your latest client proposal into your digital sales tool, but it’s almost as if you don’t even remember doing it. You pass your co-workers in the hallway and say the same thing you always do when you pass them in the hallway.
It’s as if we’re on autopilot, in which case, we aren’t really using our senses at all. But how can we be our best selves at work and perform at our highest level in the absence of our senses? The short answer is, we can’t. When we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of our busy workdays, we are denying ourselves the ability to be fully present in what’s happening in our projects, calls, meetings, etc. We often let our past experiences with said projects, calls, meetings, etc., drive what we do and how we react in those situations. In other words, we give in to our selective perception. If you’re familiar with Carew sales training programs, you’ll recall selective perception as it relates to one of our foundational concepts, The “Odds Are” Factor.
Selective perception defines the filters, biases, past experiences, and environmental factors that make up who we are as individuals. Whenever we encounter anything‚ whether it’s a familiar concept, an unfamiliar concept, an old idea or a new idea‚ we react to it based on our own biases and judgments using our selective perception. In other words, our selective perception leads us to react without having to use our senses at all!
Of course, you know from your Carew training that the way to remedy this is to be more cognizant of your own filters and biases because, then, and only then, can you attempt to see things from a more objective point of view. To tie this concept back into our topic of “senses,” pausing and purposefully stopping your selective perception in action‚ out of an effort to try and understand things more objectively‚ is how you can fully utilize your senses!
More than anything, the purpose of this blog is to bring awareness to what’s happening in our day-to-day sales lives and to actively use our senses to be fully present in every moment. Only once we are off autopilot will we be able to perform our best in our jobs and improve our sales performance. Who knows what ideas you could come up with, what creative sales solutions you could devise, or what you might notice if you fully come to your senses!
