So what is it you love about sales? What is it that gets you to work and pushed to be the best you can be every day? To be fair, the reasons for loving this noble, wonderful profession are as unique as the amazing people who lug laptops and rate sheets from place to place.
In my career I have been fortunate enough to close some high impact sales. The earnings I received were great, the knowledge I gleaned was priceless and the recognition I received was satisfying. However, the thought of these potential rewards from future sales is not what I love most, or what motivate me to give my best day after day. Please allow me to illustrate why I love sales.
It is a feeling I get when I walk into a business to a hero’s welcome. The amazing culmination of a journey that began at annoying, non-descript same as every sales person to the status of valued business partner or even pseudo co-worker. Have you ever felt this feeling? If you have I know you will empathize with this feeling right away, if you have not, then please allow me to share a secret sauce for making this happen.
One of the most powerful, game changing, rain making sales techniques is not a technique at all. It is a genuine approach to the way a sales professional views people, not just decision makers and C and, VP levels but all people. Please think about it, the most prolific sales producers are more than just disciplined, well-oiled machines. They are people who genuinely love people. This love for people is manifest in the action of taking the time to make each person they encounter feel like the only person on earth for a while.
The next thing I am going to say is NOT that you should be nice to everyone at a company because you never know who that person might be . That you should be nice to the guy sweeping floors because, it could be the CEO just getting some exercise. This is the absolute opposite of my point. I am talking about a genuine interest in the life of all of the people with whom you interact. I call this attitude the “everybody is somebody” approach. Please allow me to offer some help getting started, or perhaps a refresher.
So many of us are taught to get to the right level at an organization and try to get them talking using sales techniques, these techniques are all good and have a place. Yet inevitably while interacting as we hear something that triggers the next thing we want to say. While we craft our response in our minds, often we miss the real value of the communication. Sales people often look for underlying meaning in the words of another conversant. Or worse, we try to play detective to figure out the hidden meanings. Here is a tip, before asking what do they mean? First ask and answer this, what are they saying?
Another way to show that everybody is somebody is to think about how your product or service will affect the daily lives of everyone at your prospective organization. If you are not able to think of how, then simply ask them. You may be surprised at what you will learn, how your message will be refined and how groans and complains will magically start to fade away. All this because people feel heard and considered. The fastest way to become somebody, is to treat everybody like they are somebody.
As a side note; when your workday is over, do not turn off your listening skills. The time to refine this philosophy is when you are interacting with your loved ones. Please listen to them like your life depended on it. If you listen to your customers how much more then should you listen those most precious to you.
Please tell me what you think.