The best sales people are proud to sell – Three simple reasons
Many people sell for a living but they either don’t know it or don’t want to acknowledge it. If you aren’t proud of your job, I submit that you can’t be incredibly successful at it. My goal is to give the reader a way to think about selling such that you can be proud and incredibly successful whether you are called a sales person or not.
Everyone has heard the phrase, ‘Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.’ In anything having to do with selling the axiom is ‘Love what you do or you’ll never work.’
What is selling?
Selling is the act of helping people buy something that benefits them and their businesses, within the bounds of what the seller can successfully deliver.
- If you are helping a relative find good healthcare and you believe that you can help them make better decisions, you are selling.
- If you are a server at a nice restaurant and the customer’s experience, with you, determines if they will return again, you are selling.
- If you are an attorney that relies on good word-of-mouth about how well you helped your clients, you are selling.
As Daniel Pink says in his bestselling book “To Sell Is Human”, we are constantly trying to, “…coax others to part with resources.”
In business it’s always about serving customers/clients who are people. It’s never about tricking or misleading them. Unfortunately, the sales profession is burdened with negative stereotypes. All of us have had experiences, as customers, that support the negative stereotypes. We’ve all dealt with a sales person who lacks integrity and comes across as sleazy. Regrettably negative experiences stick in people’s memories. This is the foundation of negative stereotypes.
Consistent practices of incredibly successful sales and business people
Competing all of the time – It’s no secret that successful sales people and business people, are competitive. It’s common for the overt, untoward competitiveness to become part of the stereotype. What isn’t common is the knowledge that the best sales people compete, the hardest, to earn visibility and credibility when customers aren’t buying. They are building the foundation of a productive acquisition by learning about the customer, their industry and their people.
Relating all of the time – Any effort to develop a deep relationship in the midst of competition is viewed with a skeptical eye. People are people and when they know they are being sold to they will be guarded. Developing meaningful personal relationships with customer/client decision-makers cannot happen in the midst of the buying process so you have to be relating all of the time.
Helping all of the time – Only showing up when the buying process starts is the worst thing a sales person can do. Customers evaluate our offers of help differently when they are in the midst of a buying decision. They know we are competing and naturally apply more scrutiny to what they hear or see even if we are genuinely offering help.
Be a proud seller whether you are a sales person or not. Compete all of the time, relate all of the time and help all of the time. Being proud will make you love what you do. Love what you do and you’ll never work another day in your life. Love what you do and you’ll be incredibly successful.
©2014 Rick Wong – The Five Abilities® LLC
