As the owner of a few businesses, I wake up every day wanting a sale. Not needing one. Not acting like I already have one. Just wanting one.
That distinction matters.
There are days when I do not make a sale. I still get up, go about my day, eat, talk to friends, feed cats who are somehow starving 18 minutes after breakfast, and continue operating like a person who has not been personally betrayed by the marketplace.
Those days are not better or worse than the days when I do make a sale. They are just different days.
Having a sale is fun
A customer decided to trust the business. There is work to do. Money lands where money is supposed to land. Somewhere, a cat may receive a higher-grade dinner than usual and act like that was always the standard.
Those are good days. But they are not emotionally superior days.
That is the trap.
If the day with the sale becomes “good” and the day without the sale becomes “bad,” the business owner starts handing emotional control of the company to whoever did or did not buy something that day. That is a terrible operating system. Even cats would reject it, and cats lick plastic bags for entertainment.
Needing a sale is different
If I find myself thinking I need a sale, that is usually not a sales problem first. It is a signal that I need to step back and look at my mindset, my pipeline, my cash position, my expectations, or some combination of all four standing in a trench coat pretending to be strategy.
Because nothing good comes from neediness in sales.
Neediness changes the way we write. It changes the way we price. It changes the way we follow up. It changes the way we hear silence. A normal delay suddenly feels like rejection. A reasonable question starts sounding like resistance. A prospect asking for time to think becomes, in your head, a courtroom drama with no judge and too many feelings.
That is not selling. That is leaking.
When I feel that pull, the best move is usually not to push harder. The best move is to stop, take a breath, and not buy into the panic. Sometimes the most useful sales action is to step away long enough to stop smelling like desperation.
Cats understand this. A cat wants the treat, but the cat does not beg with strategy. The cat sits there like ownership of the building is still under review. That is closer to the energy.
Wanting a sale keeps me clear
Having a sale gives me work to do.
Needing a sale tells me I may need to stop selling for a minute and get myself back into the right position.
What are your thoughts on sales as a business owner?