Episode Details

Have you ever gone into a closing meeting, a sales presentation, or even a prospecting call with total confidence? That mindset and feeling that everything’s going to go your way, that nothing can go wrong, that you’re absolutely going to win?

I’ve been there. I know you have too. It’s one of the greatest feelings ever.

But let’s juxtapose that against going into a meeting feeling insecure, where your focus is on everything that could go wrong versus everything that could go right. And then, as soon as something does go wrong, everything starts to spiral downward.

There is absolutely nothing that can make or break a deal like confidence.

In this Sales Gravy podcast episode, we’re going to explore exactly where confidence comes from, why it matters so much in sales, and most importantly, what you can do to build the unshakeable confidence that closes deals.

The Insecurity Death Spiral

Recently, I learned a profound lesson about confidence.

I was invited to play golf with a group of businesspeople in Florida. Beautiful day, sunshine, great course. It should have been perfect.

Except I’m not a very good golfer. And these guys? They were good. Really good. The kind of golfers who carry single-digit handicaps and talk about their swing plane like it’s a science project.

So I’m standing on the first tee, watching them stripe their drives straight down the middle, and I can feel it happening. That little voice in my head starts whispering: “You don’t belong here. You’re going to embarrass yourself. Everyone’s going to see how bad you are.”

I started strong enough. Made it through the first couple of holes without humiliating myself. But then I hit a bad shot. Then another. And instead of shaking it off like I normally would, I started fixating on those bad shots.

That’s when the downward spiral began.

Every swing became an exercise in anxiety. I was so focused on not messing up that I couldn’t help but mess up. My mechanics fell apart. My rhythm disappeared.

By the end of the round, I had played one of the worst games of golf in my life. Not because I suddenly forgot how to swing a club, but because I let insecurity take over.

Now, I managed to keep a smile on my face. We were playing golf in the Florida sunshine, after all. But inside, I was frustrated because I knew what had happened. I let my insecurity about being the weakest player in the group sabotage my entire game.

And here’s what hit me on the plane home: That’s exactly what I see happen in sales all the time. One moment of uncertainty, one unexpected challenge, and suddenly, a salesperson who is perfectly capable starts spiraling. Their confidence evaporates. And with it goes their ability to perform.

Why Confidence Matters in Sales

In sales, there is nothing that sells like confidence. Nothing.

Buyers lean into confidence. They’re attracted to it. They trust it. And because of emotional contagion—your ability to transfer your emotions to another person—you basically take your confidence and hand it to the buyer, who then gains more confidence in you.

Think about it. When you walk into a meeting radiating confidence, the buyer thinks, “This person knows what they’re doing. They believe in what they’re selling. I can trust them.”

But when you walk in feeling insecure, the buyer picks up on that too. They start thinking, “Why is this person nervous? What aren’t they telling me? Maybe this isn’t the right solution.”

In sales, because we can’t always control th