If you could sell one thing, what would it be?
I like asking salespeople this question in my keynotes and training sessions. It’s amazing how people respond and the wide variety of responses. The mix of responses between things they currently sell and things they wish they could sell is pretty normal. What I am disappointed in is the low number of salespeople who respond with something like “myself ” or “helping the customer succeed” or something similar that refers to the desire to impact positively the customers to whom they sell.
To me this question is a barometer of the thinking of salespeople. After I ask this question, I like to ask salespeople where they believe their own level of sales motivation is. This is where I begin to see significant differences in the sales motivation levels of salespeople. Those who are motivated believe their job is to help others and in so doing, they’ll be rewarded also. Those with low sales motivation believe their objective is to reward themselves first and the key to their success is having a viable product or service to sell.
In the end, it’s my belief that top performing salespeople will be far more likely to answer my first question with something like “myself” or the desire to help the customer in one fashion or another. With that in mind, what is your perspective on the question, “If you could sell one thing, what would it be?”
One Response
Mark
Great article and timely after summer holidays.
Key to selling is not talking about product – we have a lot of product pushers in our profession.
One lesson I learned was to use on new, existing or stale customers was ask this:
With in my services I provide, what is your greatest challenge and if you could change one thing what would that be.
If you position the question – listen for the answer then execute the solution, the result shows the sales person is given the first right of refusal on all issues or even better, a reliable adviser to the whole plant.
Keep up the great work!
Michael