I was mulling over my give and take with some prospects yesterday, critiquing my sales techniques, when I heard two voices in my head.

"What if you're not such a great salesman?"

"It might be slightly embarrassing. I am an acknowledged sales expert and I've been selling pretty well for decades."

"So, you could live with the idea that you're a lousy persuader, a hack, a rank amateur."

"Sure, I wouldn't mind thinking of myself as The Very Worst Salesperson in the World. It might even be a blessing."

"I don't get it. Don't you need to psych yourself up before you start the selling day, pat yourself on the back, grin in the mirror, tell yourself you're a winner, a champion, before you make a call?"

"No, you only have to do that if you doubt your selling abilities. If you know you have none, why waste your time selling you on you?"

"How could being a stinky salesman be a blessing?"

"If you tell yourself you're no good at it, several things will happen, providing you don't quit. For one thing, you'll probably work longer hours and make more presentations. You won't get upset when you fail to close a deal, because, heck, that goes with the territory of being sub-par. And you'll probably focus on improvement, learning as much as you can. Maybe most important, you'll be humble and modest, which will probably make you easy to get along with, and lots of prospects will respond positively to that."

"Aha, but then you'll succeed! When the bucks are pouring in, and you're writing up deal after deal, you can't still tell yourself you're no good, can you?"

"Maybe, we should do exactly that. Hit the reset button. Begin at the beginning. What's the alternative, becoming cocky, arrogant? Telling ourselves we're getting really sharp at this game? Isn't that the precursor of slumps and miscues?"

"Now, you're sounding like those major league baseball veterans who say you can't allow yourself to get too high when you're winning or too low when you're losing."

"That's right, the same professionals will tell you baseball has a way of making a fool out of everyone, sooner or later, especially if you think you're destined to win or you deserve to win. Be like manager Joe Torre. From the look of him, you can't tell if his team is up or down five runs, he's the same, steady, calm, producer."

"Hey, that's pretty smart!"

"No, it's just more talk. Let's go find somebody to sell!"