60 years trying to sell

Everybody sells and everybody writes, but very few do both things well enough to merit the acclaim of aspiring writers and aspiring sellers. In my sixty years of selling I have read plenty of books on selling, 90% of which have note left any mark in me and my selling behaviours.

The very basic stuff about selling that I have learnt can be summarised in a few bullet points:

Is much better to listen than to talk.

The client is at the centre of your universe and he/she is in control.

Be patient, do not rush, do not push.

Ask when you really want to know for his/her benefit.

When asked, find out the reason.

You have to be competent, charming and emotionally connected with the client.

Easy! Isn’t it? Well, apparently is not. To follow these rules goes against our basic impulses, some self generated, some motivated on us. We are dying to tell our story to anyone, we have been trained in it, we smell it everyday of our working lives so we can’t repress our desire to let the customer know, if he woukd only listen…!

Our bosses are pushing us around, they set objectives for us, incentives, prizes… What other centre do we need in our universe?

We are overloaded with work, and do not have a minute to waste. Plenty of clients to visit today… and this person keeps telling me stories!

We want the information to build up the case for our product on solid ground. But the client wants us to know what’s keeping him/her awake, what her/his dreams are, and those mah have nothing to do with our product!.

We love to show off. If asked once, our answer will leave little space for a seciond question and we will never know why the client wanted to know, we will never know what is prompting the question, which coukld be a clue for his/her desires and insatifactions.

If competency were the only skill, the sales field would be filled with academia, and is not, and still the client needs to feel that is dealing with someone that knows. If all were about charming the client, clowns would not need to go around in circus, and still the client needs to have a pleasant experience if possible. If emotional connection were it all, clients and sellers would be going in circles all year long, and still the client needs to feel understood. We have to be inside the triangle between sympathy, competency, and connectedness.

To be a professional seller is a life long, never ending fight against our natural impulses, that’s why there are not many authentically good salesmen or saleswomen.