Consistent prospecting is essential for sales success. Without a steady stream of prospects, the funnel dries up. Then you end up taking desperation deals and flipping your base.

Effective prospecting requires a positive attitude. The challenge is that if there is one thing that can chip away at your attitude, it’s the rejection you get while prospecting. As a sales professional, you need a proactive plan to keep a positive attitude.

In today’s negative world, a positive attitude stands out. A positive attitude is contagious.

Don Hutson offers inspiration on the importance of a positive attitude in the first chapter of Selling Value:

“High performers are motivated and ready to make great things happen! If they get some motivation from their boss or significant other, or another source, that’s fine, but they understand that their PRIMARY source of motivation comes from within.”

Our responsibility as sales professionals, sales leaders, and business owners (all of us are in sales) is to maintain a positive attitude.

How can you cultivate a positive attitude to fuel your prospecting? Here are a few ideas!

1. Remember Your Success Stories

Before you pick up the phone, launch a sales sequence, or reach out on social, take a moment to remember your successes. Recall clients that you and your company have truly helped. It’s easy to remember the challenging clients and the losses. We need to force ourselves to remember the success stories. This is the positive energy you want to bring to your prospects. The stories of the outcomes you’ve delivered to other companies become great conversation topics once you secure a prospect’s attention.

• Sales Leaders: Your reps need a library of success stories that can be easily recalled.
  I suggest that at every sales meeting you have someone tell a story of how a client has benefited from your services. Over time, your sales team will have an inventory of positive stories they can pull to mind while they are prospecting. This habit also helps overcome the cancer of negativity that can happen if all you talk about are the challenges and issues.
• Marketing Leaders: Write case studies — lots of them.
  Make sure your sales team is armed with stacks of case studies. Unfortunately, this gets pushed to the bottom of the list for most marketing teams because it takes a lot of work to arrange for a case study. However, the work is worth it. I think case studies should be at the top of every marketing team’s list.

2. Win the Morning

What happens in the first few hours of your day sets the course for the rest of the day. Stephen Covey says that private victories always precede public victories. Your morning routine as a salesperson is a critical part of your success.

How can you enhance your morning routine to develop more of a positive perspective? You need to activate your heart, body, and mind.

• Heart: Read Something inspirational.
  Instead of opening your Facebook feed, open up an inspirational book. Each morning, I read two chapters of the Bible. It keeps me centered on what’s important. This gets your heart moving in a positive direction.
• Body: Get Active.
  Go for a walk. Go to the gym. Part of being positive is having energy. 30 minutes of walking can change your life. While you walk, plug in a motivational podcast or listen to your favorite music. This gets your physical energy headed in a positive direction.
• Mind: Learn Something Useful To Your Clients.
  Spend 15 minutes reading a good business book. Go to your Feedly or Flipboard and read educational articles. The things you learn help you drive good conversation as you prospect and meet with clients. While you’re at it, share what you learn on your social feeds. Learning gets your mind activated in a positive way.

3. Build In Recovery Time

Prospecting is hard work. The sheer volume of rejection taxes you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Find ways to recover. It’s insane the way we move from meeting to meeting without any breaks.

Last year I did some sales training in The Netherlands. It impressed me how everyone paused in the middle of the morning and afternoon to take a break. Then, at lunch, everyone sat down together and had a meal. It made me realize that I muscle through most days without taking a break. (Even as a type this, I’m scarfing down a bowl of chili for lunch. Guilty.)

Take a lunch break where you don’t check email for 30 minutes. Have a cup of coffee. Go for a walk around the building. Do something to recover your positive energy. Otherwise, you won’t have any to give to your prospects.

What Will You Do?

Nurturing a positive attitude is critical. As I write this article, I see areas in my life that I’m going to immediately improve. What about you? What can you do to bring more of a positive attitude to your prospects? (and clients, co-workers, and family!)

*This article originally appeared on LinkedIn Pulse on March 25, 2019.