A Few of the FUNDAMENTAL Truths WE’ve learned about sales
Sales Truth #1
In high school, one day our Principal was presenting something to the entire senior class. There were monitors on the sides of the room, I was near the middle, but on the side where my classmates were looking at the monitor to the left. Mr. Jackson stopped to point out how I was the only one on that side looking at the monitor on the right. He said that was a sign of a good leader. The truth is I could just see the monitor on the left better. Why would I look left and not be able to see?
The better way is the better way, so do that, regardless of what the crowd is doing. That’s true in Sales too.
Sales Truth #2
The last thing I expected to do in life was sales, but in my first real job I was tasked with selling a product that was also new to the company, which meant they didn’t know how to sell it either. I was told to educate, and if I did that better than anyone else, they would buy. What made sense to me was to find buyers that might need this product, learn about how they would use it, and whether or not it would help them. Why would I tell them all the things the product can do until we knew if they needed any of those things?
Sales is not about you, whatever you’re selling, or your company. It’s about the customer.
Sales Truth #3
At one of my stops was the best I’ve ever witnessed in front of a customer. Authentic, confident, curious, empathetic, knew when to listen and when to talk. He made it look so easy. One day his mom stopped in, I told her he’s out selling somebody something. She laughed. I asked why.
When they started the business he was shy, afraid to talk to customers, unsure of himself. Survival depended on him selling. She wrote index cards for him. “If they say this _______, then you say this: __________.” She forced him to flip through the index cards in front of customers. He obeyed his mom. He learned.
Sales Pros can be built.