We recently posted about taking the time to do your mid-year business assessment. What are your goals for the year? Are you on track to achieve your goals? If not, what mid-stream adjustments will you need to make.

While taking an objective look at your business performance, it might also be a good time to do a little self-reflection. What is your mindset as you look toward the second half of the year? Are you grappling with any self-limiting behaviors or attitudes?

As you consider your self-assessment, here are a few suggestions, ways in which you can work to keep you ego in check and your head in the game:

• Helping vs. selling: The best salespeople understand that prospects do not want to be “sold.” Internalize the value and benefits you would bring to a customer. Look at their world through a lens of empathy and understanding, instead of one that is driven by a transactional mentality.
• Stay focused on your intent: This is related to the previous point. If you are clear that your intention is to serve the customer, they are likely to feel that they can trust you, instead of feeling as if you are manipulating them just to get the sale.
• Understand what you can control: When you get down to it, the only thing you can truly control is your effort and your attitude. It is inevitable that you will be rejected and that deals will fall through. The most successful real estate sellers don’t let fear of failure or rejection paralyze their effort. They fail often and use rejection as the ultimate motivator.
• Listen more than you talk: We’ve touched on this in previous posts, but it always bears repeating. You can’t help someone unless you understand their intrinsic needs. Effective sellers have a listener mindset, especially in the early stage of a selling relationship. They ask thoughtful, probing questions, then get quiet to absorb the answers.
• Keep your emotions in check: True success,  in business and life, comes to those who stay a steady course, avoiding dramatic highs and lows. It’s much easier to adapt and learn new lessons from every experience if you can remain centered and focused.
• Give yourself permission to succeed: This may sound obvious, but the best sales people consciously affirm that they deserve to win-and then use that positive mindset to forge ahead.

As you look to the second half of the year, take time to reflect on what you need to do to keep your ego in check and your seller-mindset positive and focused.