I was at an allotment open day recently running the tombola stall with Lily and Taylor. A gentleman bought some tickets and complimented me on how good Lily and Taylor were at selling. I thanked him and said that is one skill that once developed will set them in good stead for the future. I was absolutely blown away by his response. Sales is a horrible, nasty industry where people persuade you to buy things you don’t really want and will never use. I decided not to argue the point, as it was obviously a well-embedded opinion and not the time or the place. I just took the fantastic compliment (in my opinion) that Lily and Taylor are brilliant sales people.
Like all good sales people they were building relationships and helping people to make educated decisions. Not like bad sales people who do as the gentleman described, make people feel uncomfortable and talk them into doing something they might not have chosen to.
The interesting point for me is how many of us have the same opinion of the gentleman who believed that selling is a bad thing?
The difficulty for so many business people who are struggling with sales is actually their belief system because as soon as they get into a situation where they have to make a sale their sub-conscious tells them they are acting like the horrid, nasty sales person and that is not the case.
Selling is the oldest profession in the world because as Thomas Watson Snr of IBM once said nothing happens until a sale is made. Even the other profession that people say is the oldest profession cannot happen until a sale is made.
It is important to remember is that we are selling all the time, from the moment you are born you are selling that you are hungry, need a cuddle or need changing. Then as you grow up you are selling your opinions, yourself to build friendships, and many other things that do not involve exchanging money. The barrier seems to come when money is involved.
REMEMBER when you sell correctly your client benefits plus their life is improved and your life is improved not only financially, but also because you know you have made another person?s life better.
If you would like any recommendations for books or audios or to find out 3 things you can do TODAY to improve your sales feel free to drop me an email on brian@oldsite.mpgrowth.co.uk
