Telling is Not Selling: Why I was a better sales pro when I sucked at selling

I got my start in professional sales right out of a six and half year stint in public accounting. I had no sales experience to speak of. The only tangible skills I had were related to whatever it took to practice accounting as a CPA.

I wanted to change careers because I was always better at engaging people than I was at crunching numbers. I also figured a sales career would prove to be more lucrative, and a more enjoyable lifestyle.

So, back in 2000, in the middle of tax season, I found an open position at a company called Peoplesoft, and found my way to actually getting an interview with the man who would become my first VP of Sales.

For those who don’t know, or don’t remember, Peoplesoft was one of the largest software companies in the world. Their primary offering was what people referred to as ERP, or Enterprise Resource Planning software.

Their sales force was comprised of mostly well seasoned sales reps, but was struggling to retain talent due to the promise of big money in what would become the dot.com boom. The bust hadn’t happened yet.

Anyway, I interviewed for the position. An interesting side note is that the first thing the VP said was, “I have no idea why I am here, because you have no experience in sales.” He was correct. I had none. Zip. Nada.

What’s worse is I didn’t know what ERP stood for. I didn’t tell him that until years later.

That said, I did an excellent job preparing for the interview, making some assumptions about what he would want to know, and anticipating that he would not want to hire me. All that preparation impressed him, plus he figured I had a brain given that I was a CPA.

He made me an offer that I jumped on. I jumped because without selling a thing I was making $30k more than I was as a CPA.

So, I take the job, find out where I am supposed to report, and show up for my first day in my new career as a software sales professional.

To give you a sense of just how clueless I was the office operations person came to my desk with a laptop computer. It was about the size of what we now know to be a tablet. I had never seen one before that was that small. The dude started to walk away, and I said, “Hey, come back here. I have no idea how to turn this on.”

Now, I mention this to reinforce just how green I was. Here I am, about to embark on a career selling multi-million dollar software systems, and I don’t know how to turn on a laptop computer.

Seriously, I am not making this up.

OK, so, I go through training. It was great. All the training I received was very eye opening, but really not very informative in terms of addressing the fact that I was clueless. So, into the fire I am thrown, and I take my first prospect call.

About 3 minutes into the call the prospect asks, “What platforms do you run on?” I am not kidding when I tell you I thought they were talking about a table. So I cupped the phone, and whispered to the dude across the aisle, who I came to find out later, would be my mentor, “what is a platform and which ones do we run on?” He looked at me in about the same way as the operations dude did, with shock and awe, and a facial expression that suggested Peoplesoft needed a new hiring process.

I mention these things to you because from 2000 to mid 2003, about the time it took me to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, I was the best sales professional I have ever been, and have not achieved the same level of performance since.

What happened and why?

It is a very simple answer. I was clueless and I knew it.

As a result, I made every effort in the world to not talk for fear that I would let the world know how completely lost I was. I also made sure that instead of asserting something, I asked something. I asked a ton of questions. And then I listened to the answers with the hope that somewhere in the answers I was given I would find a clue as to what I should do next.

Then, through the years, having the experience as well as going through training, I developed a certain level of skill. I became competent. I had a clue. And as soon as I developed the skills needed to be a good sales professional, I started talking. I started making assertions. I stopped asking questions because I thought I already had the answers.

I literally made the transition from asking and listening to telling and demanding. I became a know-it-all pain in the ass.

The biggest thing though is that I stopped listening to what the people I wanted to sell to were saying. I stopped asking them why they did things a certain way, and if they thought there is a better way to get the job done. I stopped being curious.

This is an important realization for me as I, just recently, have made a transition back to the days when I had no clue how to sell. I started asking questions again, and listening to the answers for insights into the minds of the people I am selling to. I stopped telling. I literally have adopted the philosophy that if I can say it, I can ask it.

My mission is to stop talking, start listening. I am going back to the days when I was so lost, I said not a word, asked a ton of questions, and listened intently to the answers.

I am going back to the days when I made observations about my surroundings, as opposed to observations about how smart I am.

I am taking myself out of the picture, and focusing intently on the people I am selling to, and as a result, I am winning again.

Find out more about what I do and can do for you at http://www.otimollc.com/sales-effectiveness!