Salespeople are slimy and I want nothing to do with them
Growing up, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I didn’t want to do Sales. In fact, I decided to study Engineering instead of Business because I was afraid that if I studied business I would end up in Sales. This limiting belief created a real dilemma for me when I opened my first business. Suddenly sales was my most important activity and my background was in Engineering! When I was very young, I remember learning that my Grandpa did sales and having to wrestle with what that meant about him. He was a good person, why would he do sales? I eventually learned that Sales is a noble profession.
Sales is an honest and noble profession
It wasn’t until I met some really good salespeople that I began to understand what sales is all about and learn to appreciate people who are good at it. Sales is a noble profession. It’s about serving others. Sales is about assisting them in understanding their situation and learning everything there is to know about the problems they face. It’s about educating them about their options and sharing your knowledge and experience to help them make a difficult decision.
Sales is an honest profession
You can get a ‘regular’ job and literally get paid to do nothing. If you sit at your desk and look busy, just let the time pass, you can get paid just for your time. You might need to occasionally respond to an email or answer the phone or produce some evidence that you are adding value, but you can get paid largely for your time, not your results. That doesn’t work in Sales. In sales, you only get paid when you get results and you only get results by helping people.
Sales is the lifeblood of your business
Without Sales you have no business. Business is selling. If you have a product or service that is valuable and can help people, why wouldn’t you want to sell as much of it as possible? Why would you ever sell a product or service that doesn’t add value or help people? The key is in the value exchange. You have to be able to sell your product or service at a price that is profitable to you and that your customer feels is a good value for them. In order to do that you must understand your customer’s problems better than they do, you must address their concerns and help them to see the value.
Selling is about serving others
Sales training often focuses on techniques, but every sale is different because every customer is different and every situation is different. To me the most important thing to remember is that your customer is a human being. Every transaction, even if it’s online through an automated system, is between people. The better you can understand your customer’s needs and concerns, the better you can serve them. The better you can serve them, the more you will sell.
Selling is just a byproduct of the service you provide to your customer. If they feel heard and understood and that you care about their needs and want to help them, they will trust you and want to buy from you. You have to earn their trust and never do anything to betray it. One of the most important skills in sales is to be able to empathize with your customer, to really understand their needs, wants and desires. You have to work understand what they struggle with and what causes them pain. This will allow you to connect with them but also to serve them better.
Learn and grow constantly
One of the most important things you can do is to learn and grow constantly. Read books, go to seminars, take classes. The more you learn, the better you can connect with others. I have recently been doing a lot of online programs. I really like this program from Jeff Lerner. You can check it out below.
