How passionate are you about sales? How passionate are you about your customers? Are you more passionate about things or people? I admit, I am passionate about coffee but not nearly at the same level as I am passionate about my wife. Being passionate about something means you care at a deeper level than normal. Right now given COVID-19 and a recession, I feel an even deeper passion to sell because selling is all about helping others see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible.
Over a year ago when I wrote my new book, A Mind For Sales, I had no idea how pertinent my sales insights would be for a recession. This book has been so timely. Customers expect you as the salesperson to be passionate about sales, and selling in a recession doesn’t change that. Passion must be at your core if you want to succeed at selling in a recession.
When I speak or work with a group of salespeople or leaders, somebody will make a comment about how passionate I am. Being passionate allows me to connect with others on a deeper level and allows me to make better decisions. Some will challenge me that being passionate about sales and customers is not a positive trait. One conversation in particular sticks out far more than others. A top-performing salesperson for the company I was working with challenged me by stating that being passionate in sales will work against you. This person’s argument was this: when you are passionate about sales and the customers, you will not think objectively and too of- ten take the customer’s side of things. He went onto say, “Passion will destroy you in a negotiation because you will cave.” This point of view is valid, if you do not place bumpers on your passion. The “bumpers” must include not giving away the farm just because you want to help a customer that does not have the financial resources. I describe passion as showing your commitment with your emotions but in a controllable manner. Remember, it is about integrity, and you cannot have integrity if you give away things based solely on your passion. Passion is built on top of a solid foundation of integrity, not the other way around. How important that is right now as you’re having more and longer. conversations than usual with your customers.
Passion is a fuel that drives our energy meter. The more passion we have, the more energetic we are. The more energetic we are with our customers, the more they see our passion. Your customers expect you to be passionate. In years past, it may not have been a requirement. As expectations around customer service have increased, so have expectations around passion. Customers have options; they know it, you know it. Even in the midst of a pandemic, a recession, those options have not gone away. It’s imperative that you break through in a manner noticeably different than those around you. That is how you’ll be successful.
Passion means you care and are willing to tie your emotions into it while, with the knowledge you have, keeping your emotions from spinning out of control. In today’s situation, not letting your emotions run wild is key, no matter what form of communication. When a customer sees you are passionate about helping them, it is amazing to what lengths they will go to share their needs. The more you care, the more they share. To me, there is nothing better. Passion will drive the sale all the time and most certainly during a recession.
Grab my book, A Mind For Sales, to learn more about your passion and how to use that to breed success. This book is helping a lot of people, especially during this time of uncertainty and chaos. I would love for you to read it and share a review with your comments. Click here to purchase on Amazon.
Copyright 2020, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
