Dallas Business and Marketing Blog

I spent the first part of my career as a sales person and it always amazed me how people outside of the sales industry would react when we discussed our careers. Many seemed to feel that sales was a difficult way to earn a living. People would explain to me how they knew there was a lot of money to be made by a good sales person but they just felt it was beyond their personal ability to sell effectively and live with a quota over their heads.

As for the quota, that does take getting used to for some people. The truth is every employee in every business has a “quota” of sorts. In other words if they don’t perform well enough they don’t keep their job. For the sales person this is much more personal though, you see the numbers every day, you monitor a sales funnel so you know what is or is not coming down the road and you also know that other people might loose their jobs if you fail in yours.

Sales people get a bad wrap at times for being “slick” or “aggressive” and even at times “cut throat”. A lot of people think of Uncle Mike the Insurance Agent or a slick used car salesmen when they hear the term sales and this is why I believe the fallacy exists that selling is difficult when the reality is that true selling is one of the most natural and easiest things you could ever do.

There are only really four things you need to be able to sell

1. You must know your product/service and believe fully in it

2. You must know your client and be willing to put their best interest before your own

3. You must be speaking to a client with the financial ability to make the purchase

4. You must then transfer your belief and knowledge to your client

When you follow that simple process selling isn’t even selling, it becomes nothing more then training your customer to do business with you. I have seen spectacular results from a new sales person, watched them close deal after deal and then something happens. A competitor takes away one account or they loose a deal on price or any one of a million bumps in the road.

The next thing you know they are under quota, unmotivated and sometimes looking for a new job. Now what changed? The customers are still the same, the product is still the same and the company is also still the same. The only thing that changed was the sales person’s belief system.

So that is why I say selling is nothing more then a transfer of belief. When you believe in your company and you honestly believe your client is better off doing business with you then with your competition you never really “sell” you just transfer that belief to them and they then logically choose to buy from you.

So if you or your sales team are ever struggling my advice to you is don’t do what everyone else does. Don’t blame the leads, the market or your pricing. Don’t work on “the fundamentals” of a presentation you can all probably do in your sleep. Just as an athlete works first on the core of their body regardless of their sport you need to work on the core of your sales ability.

Take a step back and remind yourself why you personally are bringing value to your your position, remind yourself why your company is the best in your industry. In short give yourself and your team a “belief booster shot” and you will see the difference in short order.

~ Jack Spirko

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