“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.”
J. M. Barrie
Confidence. That mysterious feeling. That elusive state. That most-sought after ingredient. It’s difficult to define. But when you have it, you feel like anything’s possible. And when you don’t, oh boy do you know about it. It’s a presence. It’s the energy that commands attention. And establishes trust before a word is spoken.
Selling to senior buyers can feel intimidating. These decision-makers are under immense pressure, have limited time, and expect to engage with professionals who add strategic value. Yet, many salespeople second-guess themselves, hesitate, or fail to own the room. The result? Missed opportunities, weaker relationships, and lost deals.
This blog unpacks the power of confidence in sales, the psychology behind it, research that demonstrates its impact, and how you can build it to consistently engage and win over senior buyers. Because the good news is, confidence can be learned, developed, and embedded.
Credibility = Competence + Confidence
Senior buyers judge salespeople’s credibility on two key factors:
1. Competence (Your What): Do you have the experience, knowledge and expertise that demonstrates you can help with their business challenges?
2. Confidence (Your How): Do you sound, look and feel like you can use that experience to help with their business challenges?
You can have deep industry expertise, but without confidence, your message just won’t land. On the flip side, false confidence without real expertise to back it up erodes trust. Senior buyers demand both.
The link between confidence and sales performance
Research consistently shows a strong link between confidence and sales success. Consider these insights:
- RAIN Group: Top-performing sales managers are 67% more likely to be confident in their ability to help sellers succeed. Their confidence directly impacts team performance.
- Gong.io: Sales reps who speak with conviction achieve 36% higher win rates than those who don’t.
- Harvard Business Review: 40-60% of deals stall because buyers lack confidence in their decision-making. Confident salespeople help eliminate doubt and drive decisive action. (hbr.org)
Confidence isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a powerful sales tool. It signals expertise, lowers perceived risk, and makes it easier for buyers to say yes. In an uncertain market, where risk tolerance is at an all-time low, confidence is like gold dust. The more you embody it from start to finish, the more likely you are to win the deal.
The psychology of confidence in selling
1. Mirror Neurons & Emotional Contagion
Buyers subconsciously mirror the energy of the salesperson. A confident approach reassures them, while hesitation creates doubt.
A study by Iacoboni et al. demonstrated that observing facial expressions activates the same brain areas associated with mirror neurons as when individuals express those emotions themselves. This suggests that a salesperson’s displayed confidence can be mirrored by buyers, fostering a sense of assurance and trust.
2. Decision-Making Under Uncertainty
Senior buyers make high-stakes decisions with imperfect information. Confidence helps reduce their perception of risk.
Harvard Business Review’s analysis of over 2.5 million sales conversations found that 40-60% of B2B deals end in "no decision" due to buyers' lack of confidence in making the right choice. Confident salespeople help mitigate this indecision by guiding buyers toward decisive actions by, for example, making strong personal recommendations.
3. The Power of Conviction
People believe those who believe in themselves. If you aren’t convinced your solution is the best choice, why should they be?
Research shows that confident speech patterns increase persuasion. Salespeople who use definitive language—rather than hedging words like "maybe" or "potentially"—are perceived as more authoritative and trustworthy.
4. The Credibility Test
Senior buyers will challenge pricing, assumptions, and claims. If you waver, they lose trust. Handling objections with composure builds credibility. Perceived confidence in salespeople directly correlates with increased trust and purchasing intent among senior decision-makers. Buyers are more likely to engage with salespeople who project certainty in their recommendations.
Common confidence killers
We’ve all experienced times when our confidence levels have been naturally lower in our lives. We’re not machines. But there are some recurring confidence killers that we can identify:
- Fear of rejection – Repeated “no’s” can create hesitation and self-doubt.
- Imposter Syndrome – Feeling like you don’t belong in high-stakes conversations.
- Over-reliance on scripts – Leads to rigid, unnatural interactions.
- Lack of preparation – Creates uncertainty and weakens conviction.
- Personalizing rejection – Taking objections as personal failures rather than a normal part of sales.
- Losing faith in your product – If you don’t believe in it, neither will your buyer.
- Focusing on external factors – Worrying about things you can’t control drains confidence.
How to build and sustain confidence
Luckily there are a huge number of things we can do to counter these confidence killers – they’re practical and they’re accessible, but you must commit to them to develop consistently high levels of confidence in what is a tougher and tougher selling environment. A quick way to assess confidence across your customer facing teams would be via the Youd Andrews CXO assessment -it allows you to uncover the realities and is laser focused on confidence measurement.
• Prepare extensively – The more you know about your buyer’s business, industry trends, and potential objections, the stronger your confidence will be.
• Move beyond scripts – move towards a conversational approach to allow flexibility and adaptability. Yes, have relevant case studies and evidence, but use it authentically.
• Practice high-stakes conversations – Practice makes perfect, so immerse yourself in realistic experiential learning environments and receive real-time feedback.
• Control what you can – Let go of external factors beyond your influence and focus on preparation, delivery, and follow-up. Only devote headspace to things you can control.
• Adopt a growth mindset – Embrace challenges as opportunities to learn, seek feedback, and understand that confidence grows through experience.
• Reinforce self-belief – Recognise past successes, remind yourself why you’re in the room, and celebrate small wins. Use it as evidence that you’re at the top of your game.
• Master physical presence – Maintain strong posture, steady eye contact, and use your breath to reinforce confidence internally and externally.
• Project vocal clarity – Control your pace, use pauses, and leverage your vocal tone to help you feel and sound confident.
• Ask more questions/use less words – Asking great questions exudes confidence and buys you time to think. And when you do speak, say less. It’s the hallmark of confident people.
• Project vocal clarity – Control your pace, use pauses, and leverage your vocal tone to help you feel and sound confident.
• Peer to peer support – Share tips, insights, feedback and ideas with peers – you’re in this together and can benefit from your collective confidence.
• Gather client feedback – Use strong client relationships to gather data on what you’re doing great at – so you can repeat it. As well as asking how to go to the next level.
Mastering the confidence skill
Confidence isn’t just an innate trait — it’s a skill that can be built, refined, and sustained. The most successful salespeople aren’t those who never experience doubt but those who understand how to push past it and project certainty when it matters most. By developing a growth mindset, practising high-stakes conversations, and reinforcing self-belief, confidence can become you secret edge to get senior buyers across the line.
The next time you walk into a high-stakes customer facing meeting, remind yourself: Confidence isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about trusting in what you do know and owning your ability to create value.