So do depression, anger, fear, and impatience. I mean, they have an odor, or at least what I imagine as an odor. 

As a sales and communications expert, I spend much time studying these phenomena. Here is what I’ve found. When you enter a room carrying your desperation, depression, anger, fear, impatience, others sense it, see it, or feel it or smell it.

I understand that we don’t actually smell it, but that’s the way I picture it. Like Pigpen in Charlie Brown with this dust cloud swirling around him, preceding him into the room. That’s what I envision on salespeople when they carry these negative emotions into a meeting.

Regardless of how badly you need a deal to happen, allowing the awareness of that desperation into your psyche will all but ensure you won’t get it.

It’s the same for depression, anger, fear, and impatience. We all experience these feelings, and when we allow them to park themselves in our thoughts as we enter an encounter…PIGPEN. Those you encounter, see the cloud, or feel its presence or smell it emanating from you. You can’t hide it.

So what can you do? Decide ahead of time to dismiss it. You can meditate on a moment of great confidence and success or one of joy or contentedness. Picture that great moment. Add color and sound. See what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you felt. You need to replace not hide your bad feelings, or they will bleed through like water stains through cheap paint.

Own Your Sales Gene