Sales : the skill more people should learn

I recently read a great article by Chris Brady  about sales.   The sales profession is a funny thing.  Alot of people have this fear or this uncomfortable feeling towards sales.  Our natural feelings when we think of a salesman is “someone who is trying to take my money” or the famous snake oil salesman.   Little do we know that sales is something everyone does daily.  Without realizing, we sell our ideas, our opinions the list goes on & on.  Here are some examples of things we try to sell daily;

– you try to sell your kids on eating the right food

-you try to sell your wife/husband on watching XYZ movie, or going to XYZ restaurant

-you try to sell your co-workers on how to perform certain tasks at work

-you try to sell your friends on why your favourite sports team will win the championship

-you try to sell the hotel front desk clerk to upgrade your room

-you try to sell your boss on giving you a raise

Sales is in everything we do.  Sales is INFLUENCE.  Sales is LEADERSHIP.

I have had the pleasure to be part of a personal & professional development company for over 10 + years and have been exposed to some great sales books.  One of my favourite books is Dale Carnegie’s classic, How to Win Friends & Influence People.  This book changed my life!   I often joke around that in the past, if I would have written a book I would’ve called it “How to Lose Friends Under the Influence”.  What I’ve come to realize is that learning how to sell is a great asset in everyone’s portfolio.   Below is an excerpt from Chris Brady’s sales article that I mentioned earlier, enjoy!

There are seven parts to genuine sales that are worth applying into your life, and if you do, you will succeed in selling just about anything. Here they are:

1. Genuine product enthusiasm
   • You need to “know your product.”
     • This means becoming a subject matter expert.
     • One of the best ways to know your product is to use it yourself.
   • You should have ample stock of your product to actually sell.
   • You should have sales aids to help make the sale.
2. Genuine problem solving
   
   • You need to “know your customer.”
   • What you’re really doing is looking for a problem that you can fix. The best way to do that is by mentally positioning yourself on the other side of the table (as if you are the customer).
3. Genuine professionalism
   • You need to “know yourself.”
   • This means emphasizing your strengths and learning to shore up your weaknesses in order to become a true professional.
     • Learn people skills and personalities.
     • Work on your appearance (hygiene, attire, etc)
     • Know how to project your competence. They have to know that you believe and then believe that you believe.
       • Have posture – the invisible and immediately recognizable stance of belief and confidence.
4. Genuine perseverance
   • You need to ”know the math.”
     • Realize that all sales of any kind is a numbers game.
   • Sooner or later there is a customer for what you’re selling. You have to persevere long enough for the law of averages to work in your favor.
     • The more you persevere and improve, the more the math starts to move in your favor.
5. Genuine courage
   
   • You need to “know how the world works.”
   • Learn to laugh at the things that scare you.
   • Not everyone will “get it.” That’s how the world works. You do what you do for the ones who DO get it.
   • Always approach sales with this mentality: “some will, some won’t, so what!”
   • Learn to ask for the sale.
6. Genuine perspective
   • You need to “know the bigger picture.”
   • Truly successful people don’t look for the desireable means (on the journey to get there), they just look for the desireable result- and they’re willing to do all the crazy stuff in order to get there.
7. Genuine finishing
   • You need to “know how to put the finish on your finish.”
   • Learn to live by the principle: Do all things with excellence!
     • Most people fall short of excellence because they think they’re done when they’re done; they just put a check mark in the box and hustle through it.
     • Excellence is finishing it and then putting the finish on your finish. In sales, this is especially important.
       • For example: Ask for a referral and stay in touch with your customer (follow-through with them)
     • If there’s a job worth doing right, it’s worth doing all-the-way right.

Hope you enjoyed, bye for now.

Joce Dionne