I have been professionally working in the field of sales, for 2 and half years now. In these years I have heard few statements frequently from my parents. “Will you be able to sustain yourself from sales in the future? ” Do you really enjoy calling someone, asking them to buy your products while facing frequent rejections?” Why don’t you switch your professional field to some other jobs rather than sales and marketing?
Every time, I have a simple answer. “I love what I do and what I do is sales". I can sustain myself in any corner of the world with the skill that I have, that is selling.” Selling is not just about asking people to buy stuffs, it is about solving problems that people have. In my case, I help people solving their problems in a digital world.
Not just my parents but most of us do not consider being a salesperson seriously or a sales job as a serious profession. Most of us still believe that sales person goes door to door or call from one person to other asking and begging to buy products or services. Maybe that’s the reason most of my batchmates or junior students that I meet do not consider being a salesperson as their dream job.
But the truth is no matter what you do in life, what your professional is you will be at some point where you have to convince other of something. Every professional and every person relies on selling.
To break it down to a basic level, everybody is in the business of convincing one another just so they could exist in business the next day. A politician convinces civil for votes, a business man convinces other business people for deals, a restaurant owner convinces people to come and dine, an automobile company convinces its drivers to buy their cars, a bank convinces public to invest in their stocks, some drink company convinces people to try their drinks etc. The list goes on and on. Sales is about creating a relation. And all businesses depend upon relationship.
There’s a statement that goes like this “Good sales person are the ones who can sell comb to the blade people”. If you somehow manage to sell a comb once to the blade people are you sure they will come again and buy comb from you? They have no hair in their heads. You cannot expect them to buy a comb again. Now, rather than selling a comb at first, you need to solve their problem i.e. getting a hair in their heads. Then they’ll come to you for comb. Now entrepreneurship begins. See, how sales generates new ideas nowadays.
With my experience in these past couple of years as an IT sales person, I’ve realized that you need to educate your prospects. When they are uneducated about your product they are never certain to choose you. It might take time but you always educate them how your product and services make their life easier and solves problems.
Since the beginning, I’ve been cold calling every single day to every new person. My sole intentions in the call would not be to sell them what my company offers but rather to let them know about how our products solve their problems. How do I know they have a problem ? I research my cold call prospects before I call. I search them on social media, Google, see how they’re doing their branding, how their competitors are doing etc. What I learn what problems they’re facing; I present to them the solutions. Now when they know that they have solution, they are almost certain to hit the buy now button to our services and products. One more thing, people like to hear about themselves, the more you research and let them know what they already know, they’ll be more impressed and will likely hear you more than when you don’t research and just blabber about selling what you have.
We need to remember that The market doesn’t pay you to have the best products or service because there are so many providers in the market, It rewards you for solving their problems and that can be YOU.
When they start listening to you, that means they’ll start trusting you and take your advice. That is when you sell your products.
According to the research, about 85% of the company leaders and entrepreneurs in the world today, were once salespeople. They carried sample cases, made cold calls, did product demonstrations and handled objections. Today, they’re the majority of corporate presidents and CEOs.
Cheers to all hardworking sales person over there who really work hard to support their customer and solve their problems.
Every day is your day to make an impact. Be proud to yourself a sales closer
Wondering what a sales closer is ? Click here.
