Hug a sales person today...

There is no more maligned group of people than those of us who sell for a living. With all due respects to doctors, lawyers and law enforcement, what we fear most is dealing with someone who has the title ‘sales’ adjacent to their name. Tell people you are in sales, sales of any kind and don’t be surprised if you’re immediately treated like you’re a leper. As a younger man, before I sold I felt the same way and sometimes if I’m not careful can still be wary of sales people. Remember, even sales people have to deal with sales people. Why the fear? Why the anxiety? Why the often times dread in knowing that we’ll have to deal with a ‘sales person’? It’s simple. Society has placed several stigmas on sellers that we all have bought into. Let me just say out loud in print what we all think about sales people.

Sales people are liars, manipulators, greed driven, dishonest and only care about making money.

I could keep going and add ‘and you’re ugly too’. That’s what we all think of sales people why sugar coat how we all feel. Remember, even sales people have to deal with sales people and when we do the thought just mentioned crosses our minds too. Now before I proceed, let me be clear, I, just as many of you believe there are many bad sales people in all kinds of industry and business. These sales people help keep alive the stigma and perception that is all too common and negative. The good news about most of these sellers who aren’t good at seeing to their customers is they don’t last long. Recent conversations with some both at work and home got me choosing today’s topic. Comments such as ‘Why would you go to college only to work in sales?’ or ‘Sales? I wouldn’t do that for a living, I can do better than sell for a living!’ I’m sort of immune to such remarks I’ve heard them for so long from so many people that you just tune them out. If you don’t you’ll wind up thinking you’re the worst creature on the planet. Here’s a few things about sales as a career you may not know. First, most salespeople are painfully honest. You must be honest if you are in sales. You won’t last long if you’re not. No reputable company wants dishonest people representing them, and if you aren’t honest your sales will die almost immediately and with no sales you have no job.

Next, sales people are vital to our economy and our country. If there were no sales people our commerce and economy, while it’s certainly not doing well now, would suffer even more. Sales people represent the ‘blood line’ of a company. If any company’s sales department isn’t aggressively tracking down every potential customer then they can’t expect growth. By the way, tracking down every ‘potential customer’ doesn’t mean ‘hunting down’ or ‘going in for the kill’. Tracking down every potential customer means as a seller you want to get in front of the most prospects to see to their needs that your product or service can accommodate. The most sellers with the most appointments will have the most revenue on the books. Simple formula, makes sense always has and always will.

More perceptions, sales people don’t follow through or follow up on what they have sold you. Wrong again, most good sellers absolutely will follow through on EVERYTHING they have promised and if there a really good seller will give you something additional you weren’t expecting. Service to sales people is like oxygen. The better you are at service the easier everyone breaths. Good sellers live by a simple premise, under-promise then over deliver.

Sales people only hawk their product and service and malign all of their competition. Again, not true. In my example when clients tell me they have considered other radio stations or media I applaud their investigation. It’s smart business for them to check out everything before deciding what and how to buy. Most good sellers invite their potential clients to look at every option and consider everything before making a purchasing decision.

Sales people lack compassion. Oh, is this one so not true. Good sellers have abundant compassion. We who consider ourselves fairly good at sales get to know our clients beyond their profession. We get to know them as people. We get to know their families and those they hold close. When our clients hurt it’s not being melodramatic to say we do too. When you spend a lot of time with someone professionally or personally and you generally enjoy each other’s company how can you not grow compassion towards each other? You can’t and you will have a lot of compassion for your clients and go out of your way to help them when they need it.

Anyone can sell. You don’t need a college degree to be in sales. Wrong again. Colleges are pretty smart, colleges won’t list ‘sales’ as a class curriculum or at least they didn’t when I traversed the main campus at Temple U. There are plenty of classes that every good sales person should and must take to be effective in their career. Yes, sales is a career not a job. Business administration, accounting, computer programs, notably excel, plays a large role in business today. Marketing, writing, public speaking and more all represent classes that every good seller should be at least familiar with before trekking into sales as a career. Most good sellers and good sales management has college degrees in areas just listed. Without being adept at these skills and being able to ‘know your numbers’ which is essential to sales and business you won’t go far in sales. You’ll have to re-tool and learn these skills or eventually you’ll just move on to another line of work.

Sales people are manipulators. Again, untrue. Manipulation is a fancy word for being dishonest. Let’s be clear it is the job of any seller to make something look attractive and find out where a product or service can help any potential client or customer. That’s not manipulative or dishonest. That’s finding the proper solution to a need. Have you eaten at a restaurant lately? Does the food on the menu sound or look appealing? Certainly. It’s supposed to. We are all ‘sensory’ people if something looks and sounds reasonable we are more prone to purchase. Good sellers actually don’t sell, they place their product in a favorable light to be purchased. In a way sellers practice a form of psychology that works by listening to their prospect about what their needs and desires are. Once discovered a good seller finds the right program to fit the bill. That’s it. Sounds simple enough. It’s really not as easy as it sounds which is why most good sellers do well because they have a skill set to perform at this level. So there you have it, there’s nothing to fear when a sales person appears. Give them a hug, we’re really not bad people. Can’t we all just get along? Have a productive day and don’t be mean to a sales person today! See ya around town.