If you’ve ever told yourself “I’m not good at sales”, this one’s for you. It’s one of the most common limiting beliefs I hear from women in business, and most of the time, it’s not actually true. The story you’re telling yourself about what you’re “not good at” might not match the evidence at all.
It started with a moment at Go-Getter Day in Brisbane that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.
A brilliant business owner sat down across from me for a 15-minute coaching session and said, “I’m not very good at sales.”
I paused. Not because it was unusual, I hear it all the time, but because I’ve learnt to ask one simple question when someone labels themselves like that.
“What’s your evidence?”
She thought for a moment and told me she’d had one sales call so far. Just one. That call had turned into a proposal. The proposal had turned into a sale. A 100% conversion rate. And yet her belief was, “I’m not good at sales.”
Stories vs evidence
This is where things get interesting, because most of us aren’t operating from evidence. We’re operating from stories. Old ones. Ones that feel true simply because we’ve repeated them often enough. When we slow down and look at the facts, the truth is often very different.
The evidence didn’t say she was bad at sales. The evidence said she hadn’t done enough of it yet.
That’s a very different problem to solve.
Identity vs behaviour
One is identity, fixed and limiting. The other is behaviour, changeable and trainable.
If she tells herself she’s bad at sales, she’ll avoid sales calls. She’ll dread them. She’ll hide from them. The story protects her from the discomfort of trying.
But if she sees it as behaviour, something she’s still learning, the path forward is obvious. Keep going. Keep having conversations. Keep putting herself in the room. The evidence will continue to build, and so will her confidence.
Where to start
So here’s the question for you.
What are you believing about yourself that isn’t actually backed by evidence?
Maybe it’s “I’m not good at sales.” Maybe it’s “I’m not a numbers person.” Maybe it’s “I’m not the kind of woman who earns six figures.” Maybe it’s “I’m not ready yet.”
Whatever the story is, I want you to challenge it the way I challenged her. Look at the actual data. What have you tried? What worked? What didn’t? And is the story you’re telling yourself a fair reflection of the evidence, or is it just a familiar narrative you’ve been carrying for years?
Because here’s what I know to be true. The moment you let the data, not the doubt, lead the way, everything starts to shift.