I was in a sales training the other day. The man in front (who hasn’t ever actually sold anything…He’s been “in” sales – sales management, sales operations, stuff like that) was laying out the Art and SCIENCE of Selling.
Really?
This is where salespeople get hurt! Damaged! When they start to believe what the ‘experts’ say about how to do sales.
I AM SALES. I do it every day. Face to face. Phone to phone. Front lines.
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I will tell you that there is NO SCIENCE to sales. If you’re talking about the “models” and “experimentation” and “observation” part of science..Sure, I’ll give you that.
BUT calling something science IMPLIES that you can do something re-producible, every time. As in…every time I put this many Hydrogen atoms in with this many Oxygen atoms, I will get water. Every time.
We could NOT have landed Curiosity on Mars without heavy-duty science. Hell, we couldn’t plug in our lamps and read by the light reliably without science. Or keep our food cold in the refrigerator.
THERE IS NO SUCH formula with sales.
Which is why salespeople get messed up. They hear things like “the science of sales” and they follow some formula that someone else MADE UP! (Still haven’t seen the math that works every time). But it doesn’t work for them, so they think they are just not doing it right. And they get beat down… AND they are trained to beat their customer into submission.
UGH!
NO!
Someone needs to tell these fabulous salespeople that they have been snowed. Today, I am your someone.
Sales is an art. A beautiful and precious art. Something to master. It requires all of you and every bit of personal and professional growth that you can imagine.
Someone who does sales well is a GIFT; to their company, their family, their customers and themselves. (Read this wonderful story: http://www.sellingfearlessly.com/mound-road/)
People LOVE to buy things that they want and need from other people.
Where is the breakdown then?
When we treat something so MAGICAL as sales as a “science”, we diminish the human spirit to numbers and formulas.
People are NOT numbers and formulas and they do not appreciate being treated that way.
I treat YOU as someone I want to discover. I seek to understand what you truly desire and do everything in my power to fulfill that desire. And to tell you when I cannot – but still collaborate to get you what you really do want. THAT is why I ROCK in sales!
I sleep in on days you don’t need me…and I work until 3 am on days that you do.
I fulfill on your intention. I get you what you want.
I AM The Irreverent Sales Girl … and SO ARE YOU!
Wanna move a crazy economy forward? Let’s ALL get in the business of getting each other what we want and need! Let’s engage in the ART of it.
I love sales UP!
The Irreverent Sales Girl
Fantastic article, couldn’t agree more! when i first started selling, i mean really truly hustling, i heard many people promise me that “Just join our networking group and you’ll never have to cold call again!” or “Come to my referral training and you’ll sell millions without cold calls, my system is flawless!”
Sure, if you slingin’ widgets and you’re the only game in town, you can probably wait for the calls to come in. If you’re not, you need to be creative. Sales people wear suits, not lab coats. We get creative when we can’t reach a target. By phone, email, LinkedIn, smoke signals, engraved stone tablets, whatever it takes to get our message out.
There’s only one way to succeed at sales, and that is to work your butt off and pull out all the stops. You’ll annoy about 3/4ths of the people you go after, but it takes a strong will and thick skin to succeed.