How to bridge your perfectionist past with the uncontrollable nature of the sales process

As a VC / Growth Equity Partner, you are a professional salesperson.
You are going to lose a lot of sales pitches.
So how do you bridge your perfectionist past, with the uncontrollable nature of the sales process?

The Setup:
You market your platform's capital and connections to potential clients: Founders

Given you are charging 30% cost of capital, Founders either need to see incredible value in your offering, or they will do everything possible to find another source of capital

The Psychology:
Most of you have kicked @$$ most of your life by getting good grades, winning at sports, and being accepted into elite colleges, investment banks, buyside firms.

You've been trained to crave these moments of external validation. If you try hard enough, practice hard enough, and become obsessed with succeeding, you usually can in the first part of life (ages 6-30)

As you become a "producer," this psychological conditioning will become your kryptonite / Achilles heel
* Selling a service to a client is not about the salesperson -- it is about the client's needs
* Clients can sense a salesperson who's preoccupied with their own success - it smells of desperation, fear of rejection, and anxiety that you have a lot to lose...

As a Producer, you're now in a completely new role, without much training or guidance While your prior training is required for you to be able to craft a custom solution for your clients, the 100% error-free mindset that was beaten into you is now a constraint How often do you find yourself ruminating over a lost deal? Or worrying about the outcome of a deal throughout the weeks of diligence? As a junior partner, this can feel even worse as you greatly desire to put points on the board.

Solutions:

Step 1: Become conscious that you may be focused on what the deal means to you, rather than on how you can create the best outcome for your client

Step 2: Realize a client is not dumb -- they will make the best decision for themselves.

Step 3: So rather than worrying that they won't choose you, instead focus your energy on what they need and help them get clear on what the pro forma would look like.

If you do this, you maximize your chances that the client will pick you. You will still lose deals -- it's part of the game. But if you get your own fragile ego out of the way, you'll maximize your conversion rate.

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