It’s a conversation I have too often with people and it happened again at a conference where I was recently speaking.
A person came up to me and thanked me for speaking and said how much they appreciated what I had to say. But then they went on to say how they can’t sell.
Naturally I asked the person why they felt that way, and the answer was as lame as every other answer I’ve heard from people who have that same feeling.
And regardless of the answer, it is built upon their belief system. The negativity of it has overtaken their thinking.
If you say you can’t sell, then you won’t sell.
How can anyone expect to accomplish anything if they think from the start they can’t do it? Let’s just call it what it is — an exercise in futility.
Reason I feel people think this way is they’ve been turned off by the sales process, because of bad experiences they have either had themselves or heard from others.
My response to this person and to everyone else I encounter who says the same thing is to tell them to not look at sales as selling, but to look at sales as helping others achieve their goals.
Sales is about listening and helping. Successful salespeople have an attitude of helping others.
They see what they do as being beneficial to those they help. Successful salespeople don’t deliver sales presentations. They have conversations that allow them to develop a level of understanding with the person with whom they are meeting.
If you believe you can’t sell, here are the 4 things you need to do starting right now:
1. View what you do as helping others achieve their goals.
2. View each encounter you have as an ability to build a relationship.
3. Quit thinking what you need to do is have a sales presentation and start having conversations with the other person built around asking questions.
4. Never leave any conversation without having earned the right, privilege, honor and respect to meet with that person again.
Sales is an incredible profession. Few professions offer the level of unlimited success and the variety of tasks as sales.
In the end, it’s about helping others see and achieve things they didn’t think were possible.
Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
