I’m proud to be in sales. In fact, I’m not just proud — I’m very proud. But I admit that wasn’t the case early in my career.
I got into sales only because I couldn’t afford car insurance due to my driving record, and I took a sales job purely because they offered me a car. Yes, that is probably one of the worst reasons to go into sales, but that’s exactly why I did.
Early on in sales I viewed myself not as a salesperson, but as a “marketing rep.” The word sales just seemed too slimy to me, and Marketing was what the cool people were doing. It took a few years for me to realize what sales was all about. It took me even longer to come up with the definition I use today which is, “Sales is about helping others see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible.”
Today I absolutely love sales and yes, I even love prospecting — calling people I know nothing about to engage them in a conversation. I know that sounds weird to many of you, but I believe so strongly in how I can help others that I feel it’s my obligation to contact them. If I fail to contact someone, then I’m doing them a disservice by not helping them.
Sure there are plenty of people I talk to who don’t want to engage with me. I’m fine with that, as it just means I move on and use my time to help someone else, knowing that one day the person who rejected me may wish to engage with me.
People love to say how sales is a process. It’s all about making a set number of calls per day, having “x” number of people in your pipeline, etc. Yes, that’s part of sales, but it’s only part of it.
The real part of sales is your desire to help make a difference. For me sales is much more of an attitude and a personal culture than a process to be followed each day.
It’s time for you to ask yourself, “Am I a salesperson?” If you answered yes, what makes you believe that?
I hate to say it, but I think there are too many fake salespeople running around merely going through the process, but never fully embracing what it means to be in sales.
I’m not expecting you to read this and suddenly have a life changing experience and poof become a different person loving sales. Sure, I won’t mind if that did happen, and I suspect it will to some who read this. To the majority of you reading this, I would hope that this serves as a nudge in your mind as to how you view sales.
My goal is for everyone in sales to see the profession the way I do and to truly embrace having a personal sales culture. When this happens, then I believe you will be qualified to proudly call yourself a salesperson.
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Copyright 2017, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
