When I was fresh out of college, I answered a recruitment advertisement for a membership sale consultant. A time-sharing company was setting up a sale team.
I went through their one-week training. I was really impressed! The training provided is one of the best sales training I have had like forever. It went straight into tackling one of the most challenging aspects of selling – self-belief.
Completing the training, all of us felt like we were selling the best value, life-changing product. Only the uninformed will reject us. Our job then was to inform the uninformed. That is all. The product would sell by itself.
Have you heard of the term, “He is so good at selling he can sell ice to the Eskimos”? This describes a person that can sell almost anything. I was that kid.
I once sold an expensive time-sharing membership to an army. He fought hard to reject me but I was really good. I used all the sales tactics that I was trained, pushed him to the corner, twisted his arm so hard, he gave in and sign up. The monthly instalment was about half of his salary. Being newly married and with a child, he obviously could not afford it. I was hard on believing that his life will change for the better with the vacations that they are going to enjoy now. I later came to know that they defaulted the payments and was being sued by the company. Their marriage suffered too.
I worked extremely hard to become the top salesperson in the next 3 months, promoted to a manager position and becoming a senior manager in the following 3 months. I later left the industry due to my improved knowledge of the industry, and the behind-the-scenes stuff. That loss of confidence cost my sale career.
So, the reverse is also true. If you cannot first sell yourself, then you cannot sell.
Now here is the deal.
When considering any selling opportunities (or if you have been selling for a while), take stock:
- The product. It is going to benefit the buyers i.e. either improve enjoyment/income or reduce stress/frustration?
- The price. Is it fair?
- Company. Operates with integrity and customer-centric?
- You. Are you the best in the industry, with the right motive?
When you are able to answer the first 3 questions affirmatively, I call that an opportunity. You found an opportunity to be great at selling.
Number 4 is the only area that you have the ultimate control on. Here, just like a sports player, all you need to do is to stay razor sharp focusing on developing your skill and knowledge on your products and industry. You owe it to your customer to be the best of you in order to give them the best value.
Trust me. When you completed all this. Your self-confidence will skyrocket. You can actually sell, I mean really sell. You will enjoy selling more than anything!
