WARNING – You may love sales after reading this!

To sell is human

Yet a lot of humans reject the idea that they are sales people.

This boggles me.

I think the best sales people in the world, are children.  Think about it…you’re at the shops…tommy says “mummy can I have an ice cream?  No.  Why.  Because I said so.  5 minutes later…Mummy can I have an ice-cream?  Etc..  Cut to the next scene – there’s the kid with an ice cream

You were born with the ability to sell.  It is just human.

So why do we reject this idea so passionately?  Why do we even take a little bit of pride in the idea that we are not sales people?  Why is it that I hear people bragging about how much they suck at sales?

I believe selling is finding out what the problem is and offering an appropriate solution.  You can’t get more human than that.  We are here to help others.  We’re h ere to serve other humans.  So really what I hear when people say to me they are not great sales people, is that they are not great at serving others.

I’ll say that again.  When I hear people say to me, they are not great sales people, I interpret that to mean, they don’t believe they are great at serving others.  Too harsh?

You see, I believe every human is doing the best they can with the resources available to them.  I believe every human wants to be able to affect the lives of those around them in a positive way and leave this world a better place.

I also believe, that unless you are a good sales person, you won’t be able to really make a difference to those around you.

I’ll give you an example…

When I first started in the travel industry – 10++ years ago, I believed:

• I ‘wasn’t a salesperson’ – not good at sales – does anyone resonate with that?
• Customers should be able to articulate to me what the problem is and what they need to solve it.
• If they want something they will tell me . Who thinks that?
• Talking to customers is fun, sales is not. Who relates to that?
• Ordinary results are an indicator of the current state of the economy, trends in the industry etc.
• Good results were because of me.

I got OK results.  Which means, I was able to affect some lives in a positive way.  I wasn’t that great at sales, and so my capacity to help others was diminished.  I had a love/hate relationship with my job.  It wasn’t until I stopped focussing on myself and what I wanted, and started focussing truly on getting others what they wanted, that I really started to get great results in sales.  Zig Ziglar: You get all you want out of life if you help enough other people get what they want.

Then I loved my customer, I loved sales and I loved my job.  I got great results MUCH more often than ordinary results.  Either way, it was because of me.

Results were an indicator of whether I was having the effect on humanity I wanted.  I wanted to make a difference to the lives of the customers that came to my store.  Customers needed me to make their dreams come true.  The problem I was solving was important: it was recharge time, time to reconnect to a loved one, time to grow, for lives to change.  Being a great sales person meant that I could help more people.

I love sales.  In fact, I take great pride in being an outstanding sales professional.  There are so many things that I love about sales, and I believe it is my greatest privilege to dedicate my life to being the greatest sales professional I can be.

I have pondered many times, why so many people hate sales.  I have come up with 3 things

1. They have had a bad sales experience.  There are bad sales people out there.  Just as there are bad lawyers, doctors, nurses, teachers.  I had a bad teacher at school.  Yet I did not discontinue learning for the rest of my life.  I also had good teachers.  So I actually believe that this an excuse that hides a deeper discomfort.
2. They don’t see it as relevant to them, and;
3. It is what they make sales mean – they have associated the word sales with being pushy, manipulative, money grabbing and forcing people into something they don’t want.

In fact, I believe that people who are pushy, manipulative, money grabbing and forcing people are not being sales-people.  They are being bad people, and it has nothing to do with sales.

What is sales, except an exchange of goods or services for money?  Every single one of you in this room, either at some point in the past or currently exchanges your time for money – called a job -  so you had to sell at some-point.  And you had to be good at it to get where you are.  In your job, with your family and friends, you are selling ideas to prompt action.  It might be to have a colleague pull their weight, or for tommy – now grown into a teenager to clean his room.  Sales is relevant to everyone.  Think about it.  How many of you in this room, have desired a particular outcome at work or in your family life and needed other humans buy-in/consent whatever you call it, in order to make it happen.  Keep your hands up.  To sell is human.  You can’t get more human than that.

Would love to know your thoughts! Agree? Disagree? Like, share & comment!