Anyone can be successful at sales. If you have a business or want to start a business, you have to know how to sell. I’m telling you it’s not rocket science.
I’ve worked in sales for more than 12 years, and I’ve sold everything from a train ticket to an individual customer to a million dollars’ worth of e-books to an institutional customer.
Sales is at the heart of every business, and without enough sales, the business won’t make it.
Nonetheless, sales doesn’t have a good reputation. That pushy car salesman comes to mind, or that one time you bought something because you felt you had to and then regretted it.
The saying goes that people love to buy, but they don’t like being sold to.
It’s true.
Working in sales, I’ve encountered “sales superstars” at every organization where I worked.
Some people were genuinely blessed with the gift of gab, and they could convince people to part with their hard-earned money. However, they didn’t necessarily have the perseverance and organizational skills that sales requires.
Others were just talented at politics and telling leadership how amazing they are. Their biggest contribution was choosing a product, company, or industry that was on the way up, and then claiming the sales wins as personal achievements.
I’ve also encountered ruthless individuals who lacked ethics. They cheated customers and blamed and scapegoated others to maintain the image of being a superstar.
None of that bravado is necessary to sell successfully. More often than not, it’s counterproductive.
At the heart of every sale is trust. You need the customer to trust you, your company, and the product or service that you’re selling. If you focus on building trust, you can’t go wrong.
Leave a Reply