How to Foster Sales Confidence for Reps to Turn Leads Into Revenue

Sales isn’t an easy profession. It is truly about having the right approach to communicating with prospects and leads. It requires people to be bold, strong, and, most importantly, confident. 

Sales confidence is the key to success for sales reps, although it’s not easy to come by. Fortunately, sales confidence is something that can be built. Properly developed confidence can make all the difference when it comes to your results and revenue.

Let's review some of the reasons why it is needed and the top tips you can use to help your team become more confident and effective.

What Is Sales Confidence?

Sales confidence refers to the confidence a salesperson has when they are pitching products or services to potential clients. A salesperson can have a deep knowledge and understanding about the products they’re selling, but if they aren’t displaying confidence during the sales process, it is unlikely that the buyer will make a purchase.

Sales confidence doesn’t mean that salespeople should be confident at all times, everyday. That’s not the point. Instead, the point is that salespeople make sure to put their prospective customers at ease by talking to them with sincerity and conviction.

Why Confidence Is Essential For Sales Reps

Confidence plays a vital role in sales because customers often lack confidence or certainty when they approach the buying process. This means sales reps need to have enough confidence for themselves and for the customer. 

A sales rep’s confidence helps to increase the trust a customer has in what they are saying. It offers them the assurance they need to believe that purchasing your product is the right decision.

The confidence sales reps display often helps the customer to gain confidence through their interaction with them. 

Confidence also demonstrates a sales rep’s knowledge of a product, their belief in their company, and that what they are selling is the best possible solution for their customer. 

Sales confidence isn’t something that comes easily to every person, but it is something that can be improved and refined continuously. Each of your sales reps has different strengths and experience levels. More experience doesn’t necessarily mean they have more confidence. 

When you focus on building your sales team’s confidence, you can add value to your customer experience and to your business.

15 Tips for Building Sales Confidence in Your Reps

We’ve compiled a list of 15 action items you and your sales reps can follow to build their confidence so they can start closing more deals.

1. Start With the Building Blocks of Sales.

Confidence is built up when people are doing something they know how to do well. 

Training your sales people well on the fundamentals of sales before you get into the specifics of your processes will help them to remember what they need to do when they are with a buyer.

Teach them well so they know the steps of the sales process inside and out. The sales process will quickly become a habit to them.

2. Change Your State of Mind.

Do you have confidence in your sales professionals? Do you demonstrate this confidence? 

Take stock of your thoughts and behaviors when it comes to your sales team. Make sure you allow them to take ownership of their tasks. 

Teach them when they ask you a question, rather than doing it for them. 

Make sure they know you believe in their abilities and encourage them when necessary. This will train them to become more relaxed and comfortable when making sales.

3. Urge Them to Prepare Well For Meetings.

Preparation is key to confidence. A lack of confidence may develop if a salesperson believes they don’t know how to approach each individual sales meeting. 

When they conduct research on a lead before a meeting, they can gain valuable information about what the lead needs, how they communicate, and even some things they like. 

Preparation can help your sales reps find common ground with your potential clients. This allows them to go into the sales meeting confidently since they will be well equipped to lead the conversation.

4. Allow Them to Set Their Sales Goals.

Let your sales team members set their own goals, within reason. This may seem far fetched, but allowing them to do this will get them more involved in the sales process. It will encourage them to work harder, and some of the goals they set may even exceed the goals you have previously set for them.

Sometimes people need to be in a healthy competition with themselves. As they meet these goals, their confidence is likely to increase.

5. Train Them on Nonverbal Communication.

Nonverbal communication is just as important as verbal communication. Watch the way your sales team members sit when they are on a sales call. 

Their posture or the way they fidget while they talk can cause them to sound less confident, even if they otherwise seem to be a confident person.

If they are meeting a potential client in person, make sure they are neatly dressed, standing up straight, and making regular eye contact with the people they are talking to.

This takes practice so provide them with reminders when appropriate to do so.

6. Make Sure They Understand Their Customers.

Talent is not as common as you think among salespeople. They simply have a great understanding of their customers, and they react according to their understanding to meet the customers’ needs.

A good way to make sure your sales reps understand your customers is to have sales playbooks that include buyer personas and the buyer’s journey for your organization.

7. Motivate Them.

It is difficult to maintain motivation in sales. Sales leaders should focus on the things that motivate the sales team to encourage them to be their best. 

People are more likely to feel confident when they are motivated to succeed. Sales team meetings are a good time to focus on small motivators for your team, even if it’s just a motivational quote or a short motivational speech. 

8. Let Go of the Idea That There Is a Perfect Moment.

Salespeople can get caught up in perfectionism. There is never a perfect moment in sales because every sale is different. 

Encourage your team to use their intuition so they let go of the idea of the perfect moment to ask for the sale. The sales process you create is a guideline, and every conversation likely won’t go according to the conversation your salespeople have in their heads. 

9. Inspire Your Team With Positivity.

Confident people are often positive. They can do things because they believe they can. Pay attention to team members with self-deprecating attitudes and help them to see things in a more positive light.

Use failures as teachable moments for sales reps, and show them the positive side of losing a deal. For instance, you may instill in them the sense that a qualified lead is never lost. Encourage them to follow up with “lost” leads later on because situations change. 

10. Celebrate Success.

Celebrating successes should be a regular part of your team meetings. Invite your winners to share their success story with the group. 

This will help that team member to be proud of their success, which increases their confidence level. They will also encourage other team members to reach for the same success.

11. Teach Them How to Tell Stories.

Everyone likes to hear stories. Salespeople should be among some of the best storytellers there are. 

No, this doesn’t mean to teach them to lie. Rather, they should paint a picture for your potential customers so they can apply their senses to the product. 

If your prospects can’t visualize themselves using your product or service, then it is unlikely that they’ll want to buy it. 

Telling stories instead of spewing facts may help your sales reps to feel more confident about the message they are responsible for delivering in a sales meeting. 

Stories actually help people to remember facts better. This means your reps are less likely to forget what they are talking about when talking to a lead.

12. Practice With Them Often.

As the saying goes, practice makes (nearly) perfect. Practice with reps and encourage them to practice with each other by roleplaying different sales scenarios.

The more they do it, the more confidence they’ll gain.

13. Create and Distribute Sales Battlecards.

Sales battlecards are quick reference cards for sales reps. It takes a while to learn the ins and outs of a business, but sales battlecards serve as strategic cheat sheets for your team members to use during sales meetings.

When they know how to answer common questions, they’ll feel more confident in their ability to truly help clients.

14. Encourage Them to Focus on Relationship Building.

People buy products and services from people they like and can relate to. Salespeople should not view customers as another person to cross off their customer list. 

Salespeople that view customers as a part of your community will likely feel more comfortable and will instill more confidence in them. 

Essentially, it takes the pressure off and allows sales reps to show a bit of their personality. Focus on building relationships, rather than firing away with sales pitches. 

15. Show Them How to Have Fun.

The sales process doesn’t have to be uptight. It can be exciting and fun when you make it that way. Find out of the box sales tactics that create good experiences for customers and sales reps.

Sales reps will feel more confident when they have exciting and valuable things to offer potential clients.

Self-confidence is essential for sales professionals who want to thrive and build a sustainable career. As a leader, help your team to improve this vital skill so they become the best they can be.