Tag Sell by Helping

Are You a Mad Salesperson?

Steve Keating 4 Comments

I like competitive salespeople. I want them to be upset when they lose a sale. I’m perfectly okay it they are a little angry about it. In fact, I’m fine if they are just plain mad. 

 

So long as they are mad at themselves and NOT their customer.

 

Professional salespeople know that when a sale is lost it is never the customer’s fault. The customer has zero responsibility to buy from a salesperson. No matter how much time and energy that salesperson might have invested in earning the sale. 

 

It is not the customer’s fault that the salesperson failed to influence them to the degree that they would feel comfortable making a purchase from the salesperson. 

 

It is NEVER the customer’s fault. Never!

 

Thinking that it is simply provides cover for unprepared, unprofessional, and undeserving salespeople. 

 

Even if something happened that is completely out of the salesperson’s control professional salespeople accept responsibility. 

 

Professional salespeople have chosen to accept the challenges of selling and EVERYTHING that comes with it. There may be some responsibility to spread around for a lost sale but that responsibility must never extend to the customer. 

 

There is no doubt that some customers are more challenging than others. Some customers are misinformed and some might have unreasonable expectations. But real selling is about overcoming those challenges and helping a customer to see how your product or service will help them achieve their goals. 

 

So, are you a mad salesperson? I hope so. I also hope the person you’re mad at is the one who stares back at you from the mirror every morning. If that is who you’re mad at then there is a chance that you know your success is up to you. It’s a sign you know that to have better results you’ll have to be better yourself. You’ll have to work harder. You’ll have to earn your success. 

 

If you’re mad at anyone else then your success will surely be limited. Do not limit your success by blaming anything on anyone else. 


Now, go earn your success!

Are You a Proud Sales Professional?

Steve Keating 2 Comments

The most successful salespeople are proud to be in sales. They know that any profit making business requires sales to survive. Everything in business may not begin with sales but it certainly ends without them. Every advancement a company makes is made from the revenue delivered by the sales team. Every person employed by the company is paid from the profits produced by the sales team.

 

The most successful salespeople also know that they do not succeed alone. The best salespeople work well with other departments in their company, particularly the customer service department. They use the knowledge and experience of other salespeople to compliment their own. They do all this with the goal of providing the customer with the best possible buying experience.

 

The most successful salespeople are not only proud to be in sales, they are proud to sell their products and services. They make the effort required to build a realistic value proposition for the customer. They relentlessly defend that value proposition against the weaker value propositions of their competitors. Their goal is not merely to sell more, it is to help more.

 

They help their customers understand their needs. They help their customers acquire the products they need to achieve their goals and objectives. They help make certain that their customers receive every bit of the value they expected to receive when they made the decision to purchase. 

 

Professional salespeople guard their integrity as if it were gold because they know that it is in fact golden. They will not misrepresent themselves or their products and they will not, will not, will not lie to a customer or a prospect. 

 

Professional salespeople are indeed proud to be in sales. They arm themselves with the skills and knowledge required to be the best, day after day and month after month. They believe in continuous improvement and they know that improvement begins with them. 

 

Does that sound like you? If not then don’t be disappointed with yourself. Each one of the characteristics of a professional salesperson is within your reach. You must decide to possess them and then get to work to make them a part of your own DNA. 


You can do that, the only question that remains is, will you?

What Are You Selling?

Steve Keating 3 Comments

In the factory we make cosmetics; in the drugstore we sell hope. – Charles Revson

Charles Revson, the founder of Revlon Cosmetics, was not a well liked man. 

He was so offensive in fact that vendors often refused to do business with him. But in spite of his personality he still managed to build a multi-billion dollar cosmetic empire.

That’s because he knew what he was selling – and it wasn’t cosmetics.

His quote above said it all. His ads sold hope by using most of the ad’s space on images of beautiful movie stars and glamorous models. The add copy made bigly promises of instant beauty with nearly no effort. He understood that nobody really wanted cosmetics, what they wanted was the beauty. So that’s what he sold.

I remember one of my first sales managers telling me that the best salespeople sell verbs, not nouns. When it became obvious that I didn’t understand what he meant he clarified it by saying they don’t sell the steak, they sell the sizzle.

Through the years I’ve come to understand that the best salespeople don’t sell their product, they sell what their product can do for a prospect. 

The challenge here is really two-fold. First you have to be selling a product that benefits someone. Then you have to find that someone it benefits and show them how it helps them.

By the way, if you are trying to sell a product without benefits then you need to find another product. If your product is the equivalent of an artificial appendix then it may work great but finding a market for it will be nearly impossible.

If you want to sell more next year then don’t sell what you’re selling, sell what people are buying. Don’t sell what your product is, sell what it does and most importantly sell “why” it does it.

Develop the mindset of helping your customer, not just making the sale. The very best sales professionals know that the more they help the more they sell. The very best sales professionals are passionate and enthusiastic about how their product or service helps a customer and they pass that enthusiasm to their prospects.

Just remember, people will seldom actually buy your product, they will buy what it does….for them.