Salespeople who are successful have confidence in their abilities and creativity. Unsuccessful salespeople, on the other hand, expect to fail. They lack confidence in themselves and their abilities. Because they lack the confidence in themselves, they see obstacles and are unwilling to take risks.

It's normal for salespeople to occasionally question, have doubt, and subsequently lose confidence regarding the superiority of their company, product, service, pricing, and even themselves. During these times of doubt, it's important to think back to all your successes, how you felt at that time and why you felt that way. Let those positive feelings recharge and revitalize your beliefs that you and what you are selling are indeed the very best.

Everyone has confidence in something!

As we grow up we build up our confidence and self-esteem by accepting it from others. Some of us may have grown up with supportive family and friends that instilled in us a strong self-worth, while others may have had to learn it on our own.

Past conditioning and programming is also where most low self-esteem stems from. Even when parents mean well, they often program thoughts into their children that tear down their confidence instead of building it up.

Although good parents want to support their children's confidence, they still pass along negative words that tear it down. Negative words heard over and over again tend to bruise confidence and self-worth.

Remember how many "NOs" you heard when you grew up? You probably heard ten
NOs to every one Yes. The word NO is probably one of the first words you and/or your own children spoke. Even after parents program the word NO into their children's heads day after day, they get frustrated when their children repeat it back to them. From the day we are born, we are bombarded with negative suggestions. Not knowing how to counter them, we unconsciously accept them and bring them into being as our experience.

Some negative statements do much more damage to confidence, such as "You're doing it wrong" versus "That's perfect, you're doing it great"; "You're stupid" versus "You're smart"; "You'll never amount to anything" versus "You're a winner." Negative statements such as these would make anyone feel that they don't stack up. And the sad thing about it is that more often than not these negative words turn into negative beliefs and stay with us well into our adult lives.

It is understandable why so few people reach their peak potential earnings or why they settle for relationships that are not positive influences; and, therefore, the pattern is repeated and limits are placed on self-worth. This also explains why so many people also sabotage their success over and over again.

Yet, you can't blame your parents. Blame won't get you anywhere in life. Most parents tend to be overly protective, so it's only natural for them to want their children to be more and to achieve more. Often they are unaware of how to communicate this into more positive words because of their own negative programming. Pay attention to your own self-talk. Does it repeat negative patterns learned from childhood? If so, stop and catch yourself. Change these words to more positive patterns that will support and build up your confidence.

Remember, you are an adult now; and you have the choice to adjust your programming, change your beliefs, and boost your confidence.

YOU and YOU alone have the responsibility to change old programming and beliefs.

Recognize that whether you are worthy or not is all a made-up belief. Nothing has meaning except for the meaning you give it. You and you alone determine if you're going to be worthy. It's simply your perspective. If you say you're worthy, you are. If you say you're not worthy, you're not. Stop buying into whether you are worthy or not and start taking actions you need to become more successful.

Debbie Allen, All Rights Reserved

Bio: Debbie Allen is one of the world's leading authorities on sales and marketing. She is the author of five books including Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters and Skyrocketing Sales. Debbie has helped thousands of people around the world attract customers like crazy with her innovative, no-cost marketing strategies and secrets to sales success. Her expertise has been featured in Entrepreneur, Selling Power and Sales & Marketing Excellence. Sign up for her FREE 6-week e-Course Business Success Secrets Revealed ($97 value) and take the online business card quiz to rate you marketing online now at www.DebbieAllen.com.