Every strength becomes a weakness if it is exaggerated. Every strong salesperson stands in their own way if they do not know their weaknesses. In this series I describe prototype salespeople and give tips for improvement. Are you by any chance a charming persuader?

Especially in my environment, technical sales, there are many of this type. Competent and analytical, systematic and precise, they advise their customers and organize their work processes. They are reliable and honest, even if it’ s to their disadvantage. Their advice is in-depth and they work persistently to find the very best solutions for their customers. 

So, do you recognize yourself in this description? Often it is not easy to achieve optimal quality when your environment constantly seems to work against it, isn’t it? And yet you do everything possible and strive for perfection. Of course, sometimes it takes a little longer and that doesn’t suit everyone. But isn’t it worth it and would more attention to detail not sometimes be desirable for others as well?

Your colleagues can get pretty annoyed from time to time, right? They think that you are too complicated and also that you work too slowly. They want you to get things done quickly, while you want to take your time to get it right. And they call you nitpicky when you expect them to work with the same precision. You probably prefer doing things yourself because then you know it’s right. But you increase your workload even more without anyone thanking you for it. 

To make life for you and your environment a little easier, here are three tips: 

1. Practice looking on the bright side: Sales people are often troubleshooters. They have to deal with complaints, problems and product malfunctions. This can lead to a negative perception for all personality types. However, those who are particularly precise have a strong impression of: “Our products are worthless”. For this reason, deal with the positive aspects consciously: Talk to satisfied customers, internalize the figures of well-functioning solutions and write down success stories that you have experienced yourself. Positive perception can be trained to a certain extent. Make use of this effect.
2. Train “living happily with imperfection”: If you are honest, you will never reach one hundred percent perfection despite all your efforts, right? But because you are persistent, you may often be at 95%. Your colleagues, on the other hand, stop working at 80%. They are still successful and have satisfied customers. How would it be if you could be a little less perfect from time to time and instead be faster and more efficient? Maybe 80% seems too extreme to you. How about 90 or 85% perfection for a start?
3. Hand over responsibility: You may still think “good is not enough”. But your boss, your colleagues and maybe even your customers are completely satisfied with a good, even if not perfect, result? Accept their judgment and move on to the next task. The last two points in particular will allow you to practice experiences with imperfection. Usually the world does not end after all. And even if a problem arises (which you have foreseen) it can be solved. On the other hand, if the majority of imperfect solutions still work, you learn that good is often good enough.

Your way of doing your job and maybe doing other things in your life as well, has many advantages. At some point in your life it even proved to be the most helpful solution strategy you had. However, if you realize yourself that you are repeatedly reaching your limits, it is worth working on your personal development. But if you have tried to overcome these limits and are not getting anywhere, I will be happy to help you as a coach: https://franziskabrandtbiesler.com/coaching/