Tame the Primitive Brain: 28 Ways in 28 Days to Manage the Most Impulsive Behaviors at Work

Day 2

Snap Judgments

You’re Always Judging

If you judge, investigate.

— Seneca

Today you’ll tame:

• Your nose for the truth

There is a lot of pressure in the world of sales. The quotas that reps are required to hit each quarter can feel insurmountably high. Timelines can be frighteningly short, or alternatively, laboriously long. And the effort that goes into building relationships, making proposals, and pushing all of these factors through to making the sale can be exhausting. Under such pressure, it’s understandable that even the sanest sales executive might throw a total hissy fit, or fly off the handle, now and again.

Here’s a story of primitive thinking that caused impulsive behavior to get way out of hand:

Petra had been working on Sally’s company’s account for months when she heard the disappointing news: Sally and her colleagues had decided not to follow through on the purchase of the new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telecom system proposed by Petra. Petra just knew that they had decided to go with the competitor; she could feel it in her bones, even after Sally had promised her the order was “as good as signed.”

Not for the first time, Petra felt that a potential client had used her to lever a cheaper price out of the competitor. “This always happens to me with these kinds of people,” she thought angrily—“!@#$ing %@*&!” And quick as a flash Petra sent Sally an e-mail, letting her have it right between the eyes, digitally speaking: “You !@#$ed me over, you #$%@!,” ...