Many people would say sales is about taking advantage of people. It hurts me to hear people say that. I don’t think people would come to that conclusion without relating it to their own personal experience. This tells me that they have either had an unpleasant experience with salespeople or someone has shared with them their disappointing experience.
Sales is not about taking advantage of people. Sales is about helping people. It’s exactly the reason why I say sales is leadership and leadership is sales. A good salesperson is also a good leader. The two should go hand in hand.
Watch this very short video on sales leadership!
To me, sales is not a single event but a continuum of various activities. It’s about creating relationships that help build trust and confidence among every party involved in the sales process. If you really think about it, sales is just the process of communication that people use to help one another. This is one the reasons why I’m not a big fan of the term “closing the sale.” I think we should be viewing it instead as the opening of a new relationship. We are creating the opportunity for the customer to benefit and to me, that’s truly helping people.
I’m sharing this with you, because it’s a struggle I hear about a lot. The struggle of someone not really knowing why they’re in sales. Often, it’s a struggle simply because they are not keeping people their focus. It’s impossible for every conversation to be perfect and it’s impossible for each day to be perfect. What’s possible though is for you as a sales leader to approach each day with an others-centered goal. That goal should be to earn the right, the privilege, the honor and the respect to be able to meet with that person again. I strongly believe that if you pair that goal with your sales skills, you will be successful. People must be of utmost importance to you.
There’s no reason to think less of yourself because you’re in sales. Honestly, you should think more highly of what you’ve been given the task to do: help people. Make it your job to be the best at earning the right, privilege, honor and respect with every person you meet. In doing so, you’ll build trust and confidence with others and success within yourself.
So, let’s ask the question again: is sales about helping people? Yes, indeed it is!
Copyright 2019, 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
